Why it matters
The producer
Renato Corino built his estate from nothing in 2005, planting himself in the Arborina cru of La Morra the year he and his brother Giuliano chose to work independently rather than continue under their father Giovanni's name. He now makes four Barolo designations, from a broad La Morra village label down to a Riserva drawn from vines older than fifty years, alongside Langhe Nebbiolo, Barbera d'Alba, and Dolcetto d'Alba. His children Stefano and Chiara have joined him in the work.
Arborina sits in the western part of the Barolo zone, a place associated with Nebbiolo grown on softer ground and made in a style that opens earlier and gives up its fruit more readily than wines from the eastern communes. Renato's range is built around that character: Nebbiolo showing cherry and raspberry before tar, silky before austere, with firm tannins that settle into the wine rather than dominate it.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
La Morra is the largest commune in the Barolo zone by vineyard surface, occupying the western ridge above the Tanaro valley. The appellation label on a bottle of Barolo from La Morra signals a particular set of expectations: earlier-ripening fruit, softer tannins at release, wines that reward a few years of cellaring without requiring a decade of patience.
The Arborina vineyard is a named cru within La Morra, recognised under the Barolo Menzione Geografica Aggiuntiva system as a distinct geographic addition on the label. Rocche dell'Annunziata, the second cru in Renato's range, lies in the Annunziata subzone, one of La Morra's most historically regarded sites. These cru names on the label identify where the grapes were grown, concentrating the wine's character on a specific slope rather than the broader commune.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
Renato works his vineyards with copper and sulfur rather than synthetic treatments, a choice that keeps the vines in a low-intervention regime without requiring formal organic certification. Grass management is integrated into soil care between the rows. At harvest, fruit is culled carefully so only sound, ripe clusters enter the cellar.
For the Barolo range, the cellar uses French oak barriques, renewing roughly a third of the barrique stock each year with medium-toasted wood. Rotating the oak at that rate keeps the influence of new wood modest: the wine absorbs some vanilla and spice from the fresher barrels while the older wood contributes oxygen exchange and softening without overlaying the fruit. The Langhe Nebbiolo is made to drink young, with lighter handling to preserve its floral, fresh character.
Wines to know
The range in view
Nebbiolo runs through the entire range in five expressions. Langhe Nebbiolo is the lightest: 100% Nebbiolo, transparent ruby in colour, aromatic and youthful, with flowers and wild mint on the nose and sweetly tannic fresh fruit on the palate. It is made for early drinking.
The Barolo range moves through four designations in order of specificity. Barolo del Comune di La Morra is the village label, drawing from La Morra soils across the commune. Barolo Arborina narrows to the named cru, with the silky, fruit-forward character that Arborina's position in La Morra produces: supple texture, cherry and raspberry, tar and dried underbrush, and firm dusty tannins on the finish. Barolo Rocche dell'Annunziata comes from a second named site in the Annunziata subzone, one of La Morra's historically significant vineyards. Barolo Roncaglie is a third cru designation. The Barolo Riserva sits at the top of the range, produced only from vines older than fifty years and subject to longer minimum ageing under Barolo law: it carries the deepest concentration the estate produces.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
Start with the Barolo Arborina. It is a single-cru wine from the vineyard at the heart of Renato's estate, and it shows what La Morra Nebbiolo does: a silky texture, fruit that leads with cherry and raspberry, and firm dusty tannins that define the finish without closing the wine down. No heaviness, no extraction, no wood that overpowers the fruit. The cru name on the label tells you where it came from; the wine tells you why La Morra has its own character within the Barolo zone. Open it at eight to ten years from vintage, or hold it longer if the dusty tannins still feel present.