Who makes it
Francesco Rinaldi & Figli has been making Barolo from the village of Barolo since 1870, the founding year cut into the stone walls of its old cellar. The estate grows Nebbiolo across three of Barolo's most significant communes: Barolo, La Morra, and Castiglione Falletto. From those vineyards it produces single-cru Barolos from Cannubi, Brunate, and Rocche dell'Annunziata, each farmed to the same code: organic viticulture, unhurried maceration, no new wood, long ageing in large Slavonian-oak casks before any bottle leaves the cellar.
The estate is run today by the sisters Paola and Piera Rinaldi. Since 2023 they have been joined by Piera's daughters Elisa and Francesca, the fifth generation to work these parcels. The winery operates under Francesco Rinaldi's name because of a family separation in 1922: Giovanni Rinaldi's sons divided the property between them, and the winery continued under the name of the youngest, Francesco. That decision from over a century ago is still the label on every bottle.
Where it grows
Barolo is a red-wine appellation in the Langhe hills of Piemonte, built entirely around Nebbiolo. The DOCG designation covers eleven communes; the Rinaldi estate works parcels in three of them. Each commune carries a distinct geology and microclimate, which means the Barolo label alone tells you less than knowing which commune and which vineyard the fruit came from.
The village of Barolo sits at the heart of the appellation and gives its name to the whole zone. La Morra, slightly further northwest, tends to produce Nebbiolo with more open perfume and softer texture in younger vintages. Castiglione Falletto, to the east, is associated with firmer, longer-lived wines. All three communes appear on Rinaldi estate bottles, either directly or through the location of named parcels that sit on their borders.
How it is made
The cellar
All three cru vineyards are farmed organically. No synthetic herbicides or pesticides enter the parcels. The choice matters in a zone as densely farmed as the Langhe: organic management preserves the microbial life of the soil and forces a closer relationship between the vine's roots and the geology below.
In the cellar the approach has remained consistent across generations. Macerations are long: the skins stay in contact with the fermenting juice for an extended period, which draws more tannin, more colour, and more of the aromatic compounds locked in Nebbiolo's thick grape skins. The resulting wines are not built for early drinking. They are built for time.
What they make
The three cru Barolos anchor the range. Barolo Cannubi is the largest holding and the flagship: Nebbiolo from southeast-facing Helvetian-era soils, aged in old Slavonian botti, with the mineral clarity and long tannin grid that calcareous ground tends to produce. Its sibling from Cannubi Boschis shares the same ridge but has its own registered sub-zone designation; both are bottled separately.
Barolo Brunate draws from the two-hectare parcel on the Barolo and La Morra border. Brunate typically gives Nebbiolo with a broader, more generous character: softer in the first years after release, with red fruit that opens more readily than Cannubi's tighter frame.
Wines to try
First bottle
Barolo Cannubi is the right first bottle from this estate. It is Nebbiolo from the most significant parcel in the Rinaldi holdings: 2.8 hectares of southeast-facing Cannubi on calcareous Helvetian soils, aged for years in large old Slavonian botti before release. No new oak. No concession to softer, more accessible early drinking.