Pio Cesare, Barolo, 2016

Complex aromas of smoke, ash and dark fruits with a precision and intensity. Layered and gorgeous. Loads of dark fruit and perfume. Full-bodied with round and wonderfully polished tannins. Wonderful length and richness. Goes on for minutes.

Dried flower petal nose with savory meaty hints, and captivating tension and freshness on the palate, of ripe and intense red berry-cherry fruit and harmonizing tannins.

The 2015 Barolo is a beautifully balanced and tight expression of Nebbiolo that hits all the right spots on the palate, from the side of the mouth where you taste the acidity to the back where you get a sense of the wine's structure and integrated tannins. That freshness could pair well with a steak in pepper cream sauce. Long skin maceration times are followed by oak aging, partially in botti with a smaller part in barrique.

Camphor, cedar, mature berry and pipe tobacco aromas are front and center. The full-bodied, linear palate shows strawberry compote, wild cherry, licorice and white pepper framed in taut, fine-grained tannins. Drink 2020–2027.

According to Pio Boffa, his team has worked for more than a decade to identify clones with smaller berries and clusters that give more consistent phenolic ripeness and allow them to pick earlier, which keeps alcohol levels moderate. They have also refined their oak regimen over the years, backing off their use of new French oak barriques in their Barolos so that just 20 percent of the wine rests in new barriques, the rest in large oak casks, for about 30 months. Their efforts show in Pio Cesare’s 2015 releases, some of the best we have tasted from this house. The 2015 Barolo is comprised of fruit from estate vineyards in five communes, including, for the first time, a small percentage from Monforte d’Alba’s Mosconi, acquired by the estate in 2014. It’s lively and long, with flavors of ripe red cherry and raspberry laced with subtle spice and bright notes of orange peel, the acidity drawing out the flavors into a balanced finish.

A classic 2015 with its core of sweet fruit and already hard to resist personality, the 2015 Barolo is more medium-bodied and elegant on the palate, with silky tannins and a rocking bouquet of candied violets, raspberries, rose petals, and licorice. It’s not a blockbuster, but it shines for its balanced, layered, charming style and just has wonderful fruit.

A lean, tightly wound style, displaying light cherry, licorice, tobacco and mineral flavors. A streak of iron builds as this plays out on the austere finish. Best from 2022 through 2036.