tasting / laying down / 2018 Barolo
all the same. Almost meaty; lots of ample fruited breadth, too, and a softly vegetal sweetness— autumn flowers once summer’s heat is over. Complex and attractive aromas in layered style. Ample but supple on the palate—super tannins, beautifully buffed and rounded and sumptuously meshed with the fruits. Quite a grave, secondary style: no primary pomegranate anymore. Complex and layered on the palate, too. Little sweet charm, but makes up in terms of its inner complexities and tannin craftsmanship. Impressive. | 92 MP | Intense, concentrated, and gamey aromas, very ripe and jammy fruit, with layers of firm, oak-derived tannins and warming alcohol. The fruit character is fully ripe and comprises cassis, blackberry, plum, and cherry. This misses some aromatic complexity and presents as a foursquare and workmanlike Barolo that failed to make the most of this vintage’s opportunity for aromatic complexity. Decent, short-term drinking. | 87
Arnaldorivera Barolo Vignarionda Serralunga d’Alba (14.5% ABV)
| 89
BB | Garnet to pink. Open, oak-driven nose, yet clean, with small red fruits and floral notes. Medium-bodied, salty palate, clean, with small red fruits and a fairly long, mineral finish. | 91 AJ | Dark black-red, though translucent. An animal cast to the warm fruits, which some will like but others may not. Ample savory breadth, for better or worse. This is what you find on the palate, too. In other respects, a sound wine, but I don’t think this will make a promising aging prospect. | 86 MP | Obvious and very ripe nose, with sweet red fruit including cranberry, strawberry, and raspberry. This is supported by notes of cold ash, wood smoke, licorice, and leather. On the palate, the oak and very ripe primary fruit dominates the palate, but the supporting tannins and acidity suggest that this can develop further. The tannins are dominant at the moment, and they may never evolve in the way that the fruit requires. | 90
Borgogno Barolo Cannubi Barolo (14.5% ABV)
| 89
BB | Pale garnet to tawny. A touch closed on the nose, with tobacco and cedar, small red fruits, and dried flowers. Medium-bodied, fairly balanced, if slightly simple on the mid-palate and finish. | 88 AJ | Bright, light, clear, and translucent—almost Verduno-pale. Soft and savory—beautiful aging here. Mellow and fragrant. Less fresh fruit than some and perhaps not for aging for a decade or more, but mellowly attractive just now. Time in the glass indicates that it holds splendidly, still showing complexities half an hour later: truly impressive. Exactly as the aromas suggested. Certainly one of the quieter and more slender Barolo wines, but such gorgeous inner warmth to it, with ample subtlety and intrigue. Super stuff, and never mind the commune style: a wonderfully crafted Barolo of huge allusive power and potential enchantment. Absolutely terrific. | 95 MP | Obvious development on the nose. Ripe and rich. Cooked-fruit aromas of plum and cherry, licorice, tobacco, and compote. Simple and obvious. Flavors veer to the stewed and obvious. The palate has plenty of weight, but it lacks both precision and delicacy, with the jammy fruit struggling to recollect its origins. | 83
208 | THE WORLD OF FINE WINE | ISSUE 79 | 2023
Ceretto Barolo Rocche di Castiglione Castiglione Falletto (14% ABV)
| 89
BB | Garnet to pink. Open nose, with red fruits, a touch of smoke, crushed stones, and herbs. Medium-bodied, with simple fruit and finish. | 86 AJ | Clear pale red. Some oak here? Nor sure. Anyway: sweet, graceful, enchanting, mellow, fragrant, with some fennel-seed charm (the warm summer at work). Light, graceful, seizing—the usual rather separate dry and grippy Castiglione tannins; high-toned, soprano fruits. But the great falling grace of 2018’s warmth and accessibility glues it all together and makes for a delicious wine. | 90 MP | Attractive, complex nose, with candied fruit, redcurrant, vanilla, cocoa powder, cranberry, blackberry, and plum. The palate shows a worryingly forward nature and an absence of the structure necessary for future development. | 90
Giacomo Conterno Barolo Francia Serralunga d’Alba (15% ABV)
| 89
BB | Garnet to pink. Intense, tar, roses, red fruits, herbal nose, with an intense crushed stones, chalk character. Medium body, salty, with lively, layered red fruit and a clean, fairly long finish. | 93 AJ | Mid-depth of garnet; some fine sediment, so presumably not aggressively filtered. Some initial reduction, then sweet, warm, rounded: artless but attractive. Slightly coarse fruit thrust. Deep, dense, searching, vivid: very concentrated and driving, but lacks the glowing warmth and serenity of its gentler peers. Sinewy; lots of root spice. Generous wine, though it lacks a little polish. | 88 MP | Delicate nose, with none of the usual darker fruit associated with this commune. Aromas of bramble, hawthorn, cooked plum, hay, and wet wool. The tannins are exceptionally pronounced and lively in this wine, with very ripe fruit showing a cooked dimension and together contributing to an overblown impression of overt fruit ripeness rather than any structural integrity. Drink now. | 87
Paolo Conterno Barolo Ginestra Monforte d’Alba (15% ABV)
| 89
BB | Garnet to tawny. Open, ripe, smoky, earthy nose, with black cherries and prunes. Full body, big tannins, ripe black fruit, with a slightly challenging, rustic finish. | 89 AJ | Dark but clear and translucent. Slightly burned, abrupt aromas; messy, somehow. Lacks aromatic finesse, though not faulty. Touch of kerosene. This is what you find on the palate, alas. The tannins are the most enjoyable element of this wine. | 86 MP | Pronounced nose, with overripe notes of damson, plum, strawberry, currant, raspberry, and fig. The palate has clarity, thanks to the fresh acidity and elegant, melded tannins. The fruit capably delivers a long and satisfying finish, with layers of flavor and the capacity to develop. | 92
Poderi Luigi Einaudi Barolo Bussia Monforte d’Alba (14.5% ABV)
| 89
BB | Transparent garnet to tawny. Elegant, cedar-wood, red-cherry, rosewater, road-tar nose. Medium body, fine tannins, bitter-cherry palate, with a long, salty finish. | 92 AJ | Clear, bright, dark red; glowing. Nourishing
aromatics here: a wealth of autumnal fruits and an intimation of Christmas spice. Vivid and deep, with a fine core of deep-rooted fruit, glowing, rich, and resonant. Admirable concentration: an outstanding wine, powerful and reverberative; one of the very best of the Monforte cohort. Fine now but will be better with a few more cellar years. | 92 MP | Very ripe nose, with menthol, vanilla, and cough syrup. What fruit is here is too ripe, and the wine lacks structure and tannins. | 83
Manzone Barolo Castelletto Monforte d’Alba (14% ABV)
| 89
BB | Deep garnet to pink. Open, earthy, ripe black fruits nose, with prunes, cedarwood, and black truffles. Full body, slightly green tannins, rich black fruit, with moderate length. | 89 AJ | Dark black-red. Some oaky freshness here, but it works well with the bright fruits. Lively and engaging. Forceful and engaging; generous and assertive. Lots on offer in frank style. | 89 MP | Concentrated and convincing nose, with cranberry, plum, mulberry, and cherry. In the mouth, this has lashings of structural components and some new oak that stops the fruit from taking center stage. An attractive glass of Barolo, but the oak dominates the palate, leading to a diffuse and attenuated finish. | 88
Azienda Agricola E Pira e Figli Chiara Boschis Barolo Cannubi Barolo (14% ABV)
| 89
BB | Deep garnet to pink. Earthy, ripe nose, with black and red fruits, complex, with smoked meat and black truffles. Medium to full body, rich, layered, and clean, with fine tannins and a long, clean, compact finish. | 95 AJ | Deep garnet-red. Warm, rather jammy aromas, in exuberant, full-throated style. A little coarse, in truth. Ditto on the palate. No shortage of flavor action, but the style is clunky. | 84 MP | Obvious nose, blackberry, black cherry, cooked plum, oregano, charcuterie, straw, and mushroom. On the palate, this succumbs to the siren song of overripe fruit, which was a constant distraction in 2018. There is alcohol and fruit, but the wine lacks balance, with insufficient acidity to provide focus. | 87
Arnaldorivera Barolo Rocche dell’Annunziata La Morra (14.5% ABV)
| 88
BB | Garnet to pink. Exuberant, road-tar, earthy, black- and red-cherry nose, with crushed stones and dried flowers. Medium body, fine tannins, clean fruit, long and mineral, yet a touch simplistic on the finish. | 90 AJ | Clear, deep red. A touch varnishy, and the fruits are a little more subdued than for many. Soft-focus but attractive, nonetheless. Drier than many and slightly mentholated on the palate. Sound fruits, with good concentration, poise, and tannic drive. | 88 MP | Very ripe, even savory nose, which is atypical for this commune, with a veneer of new oak and the accompanying aggressive tannins that obscure what ought to be quite pretty fruit. The finish is attenuated by the dominant wood, and the whole package suffers as a result. | 86
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