From the atlas
Az. Vitivinicola Aurelio Settimo
At A Glance
Producer: Az. Vitivinicola Aurelio Settimo Village / Hamlet: Frazione Annunziata, La Morra Appellation: Barolo DOCG Grape: Nebbiolo (Barolo), Dolcetto (Dolcetto d'Alba) Cru: Rocche dell'Annunziata Hectares: 6.6 ha total (5.63 ha Nebbiolo, 0.97 ha Dolcetto) Annual Production: approximately 40,000 bottles Style: Traditional: long skin maceration, large-format oak casks, no barriques
The Producer
Domenico Settimo started farming an old stone property in Annunziata in 1943. His son Aurelio put the family name on a label in 1962 and named the Rocche dell'Annunziata cru, a named vineyard on the south-southwest-facing slopes above the hamlet. Aurelio died in 2007 and his daughter Tiziana took over management. Her son Davide joined in 2017 after studying oenology in Alba, making him the fourth generation to work this particular patch of Langhe hillside.
The scale stays small by choice. Six-point-six hectares, three wines, 40,000 bottles a year. Every Barolo the estate makes comes from the same cru its founder first farmed. The winemaking has not chased modern fashion: long fermentation on skins, large casks, slow development. That consistency is not inertia. It is a position.
Place
La Morra is one of the six communes that make up the Barolo zone in Piemonte's Langhe hills. It sits on the western edge of the appellation, and its soils tend toward limestone and clay with a softening influence on Nebbiolo compared to the sandier, more iron-rich soils of Serralunga d'Alba to the east.
The Rocche dell'Annunziata cru sits within La Morra's Frazione Annunziata at roughly 270 metres, oriented to the south-southwest between the San Martino and Cerequio-Brunate hills. That aspect gives the vineyard long afternoon sun while avoiding the heat accumulation of a direct south face. Barolos from here tend toward aromatic complexity alongside weight, which shows in the label: the estate's single-vineyard bottling carries the Rocche dell'Annunziata name on the front, a designation that connects the bottle to a specific slope.
Soil And Site
The Annunziata area shares La Morra's calcareous clay soils, generally Tortonian in origin, which drain reasonably well while retaining enough moisture to support Nebbiolo through the long growing season. The south-southwest orientation at 270 metres gives even ripening across the season without excessive concentration.
The 5.63 hectares of Nebbiolo are entirely within or immediately adjacent to the Rocche dell'Annunziata cru. The 0.97 hectares of Dolcetto grow nearby. Both varieties stay within the Annunziata hamlet rather than spreading across the broader commune.
Story
Domenico Settimo arrived at the old Annunziata farmhouse in 1943. At that point he was a farmer who grew grapes, not a producer who made wine under his own name. That distinction mattered throughout postwar Piemonte, where small growers sold their Nebbiolo in bulk to négociants rather than bottle it themselves. Aurelio changed that in 1962 when he formalized the estate label, committed the family name to the front of a bottle, and named the Rocche dell'Annunziata cru on it.
The nineteen years between founding and label were not idle. Aurelio spent them learning the vineyard and building confidence in the fruit before deciding the wine was worth putting his name on. When he did, he chose a winemaking approach that would stay largely unchanged through three generations: long fermentation on skins followed by ageing in large oak casks.
Aurelio's death in 2007 handed the estate to Tiziana, who had grown up in it. She kept the winemaking unchanged. When Davide joined a decade later, he brought formal training from Alba's oenology school back to land his great-grandfather had farmed. The same 6.6 hectares, the same cru, the same label name.
Vineyards And Cellar
Nebbiolo for Barolo ferments on skins for 15 to 20 days with a submerged cap and regular pump-overs. Submerged cap fermentation keeps the grape skins beneath the surface of the fermenting must, in contact with the juice throughout rather than floating above it. Pump-overs redistribute colour and tannin from the skins into the wine evenly. Together, these choices extract colour and tannin from Nebbiolo's thick skins: deep colour, firm tannin, the grip that Barolo needs to age.
Ageing happens in large oak casks of 2,500 to 3,500 litres. At that volume, oak surface area relative to wine volume is low, which means the casks provide slow oxygenation without imparting much oak flavour. The wine develops in the barrel through gradual air exposure rather than absorbing wood character from it. This is the traditional Barolo ageing logic: the wine should taste of Nebbiolo and Rocche dell'Annunziata, not of the vessel that held it.
Dolcetto ferments separately and is released earlier than the Barolos, following a shorter cycle suited to that grape's lower tannin and brighter fruit.
Wines
Three wines cover the entire range.
The Barolo DOCG is the estate blend, drawing from Nebbiolo parcels across the Rocche dell'Annunziata holdings. It is the entry point into the estate's Nebbiolo: a wine of considerable weight, firm tannin from the long maceration, and the aromatic complexity that south-southwest slopes consistently give the grape here. The acidity is firm and the finish long, with the kind of grip that softens over five to ten years in the bottle.
The Barolo Rocche dell'Annunziata is the single-vineyard bottling, named directly for the cru. Both Barolos are made the same way, through the same fermentation and the same large casks. The cru bottling is a separate expression from the estate blend. Expect more aromatic intensity at the top, darker fruit concentration, and a tannin architecture that needs more time.
The Dolcetto d'Alba is from 0.97 hectares of Dolcetto grown near the Nebbiolo parcels. It shows maraschino cherry, strawberry, red currant and wild red berries on the nose, with a fresh, fruity character on the palate and lower tannin than either Barolo. It is intended to be drunk young and offers the estate's character without the cellar patience the Barolos demand.
In The Glass
The Barolos open with the characteristic Nebbiolo fragrance: dried roses, tar, dried cherry, and a mineral edge that comes from the calcareous clay soil. That perfume lifts from the glass before the wine even reaches the palate.
In the mouth, the tannin from 15 to 20 days of skin contact arrives early and stays. It is not aggressive, but it is present and drying, which is the traditional character of traditionally made Barolo. The acidity holds underneath it, bright and fresh, keeping the fruit from feeling heavy. That combination, tannic grip over lively acid, is what gives the wine its ageing trajectory: it tightens on release and opens slowly over years.
The large-cask ageing leaves no detectable oak flavour. What persists on the finish is Nebbiolo and Rocche: rose petal, leather, dried herb, and a mineral persistence that can carry for a minute or more.
The Dolcetto reads differently in the same glass. Lower tannin, higher fruit immediacy, the maraschino and berry character forward and unobscured. It finishes clean and short rather than long and firm.
A Bottle To Understand It
Start with the Barolo Rocche dell'Annunziata. It is the wine that names the cru, works the cellar method hardest, and shows what this estate is building toward. The grape is Nebbiolo from south-southwest slopes at 270 metres. The fermentation ran the full 15 to 20 days on skins. The casks were large. Nothing was done to soften or accelerate the wine.
In the glass it gives dried rose, tar and dark cherry at first, then leather and dried herb as it opens. The tannin is real and the acidity underneath it is firm. Give it ten years from the vintage if you can, or decant it for two hours if you cannot. Either way, it will teach you what Rocche dell'Annunziata is and why a family has stayed on it for four generations.
Anecdote
Aurelio Settimo had been farming the old Annunziata property for nineteen years before he decided the wine was worth his name. In 1962 he took the step that most small Langhe growers at the time did not: instead of sending the Nebbiolo to a négociant in bulk, he printed a label, put the family name across it, and added the Rocche dell'Annunziata address below. No outside backer, no broker relationship, just a bottle with a name on it and a cru underneath that name. The label Aurelio chose in 1962 is still the one on the bottle today, carried forward through Tiziana's management from 2007 and Davide's arrival in 2017. The name did not change when the generation did.
Final Word
Az. Vitivinicola Aurelio Settimo is a producer whose argument is made quietly. Four generations on 6.6 hectares, one cru, three wines, the same fermentation and ageing logic since 1962. The Rocche dell'Annunziata Barolo will not flatter on release. It will reward patience. That is the deal the label has always offered.
Sources
- https://www.aureliosettimowines.com/en
- https://www.aureliosettimowines.com/en/famiglia-azienda
- https://www.stradadelbarolo.it/en/members/aurelio-settimo/
- https://profilewinegroup.com/pages/aurelio-settimo
- https://en.cantinalamorra.com/cantina/aurelio-settimo
- https://www.aureliosettimowines.com/en/dolcetto-dalba-doc-no
- https://www.aureliosettimowines.com/en/barolo-docg-rocche-dellannunziata-no