Pio Cesare Barolo DOCG 2018 Red Wine

Pio Cesare Barolo DOCG 2018

Piedmont, Italy

94 pts. James Suckling:

"Aromas of spicy red cherries on a loamy underlay, together with savory twists of forest floor and walnut shell. Some orange rind, too. Full-bodied with very fine, firm and silky tannins and lots of long, focused fruit and spice flavor. Good structure for 2018. Needs a year or two to fully knit together. Best from 2024."

93 pts. Wine Advocate:

"The 2018 Barolo opens to ripe aromas of dried plum and tobacco. This vintage lacks some of the complexity of a cooler growing season, but these results are far from monochromatic. Those tobacco aromas cede to cedar, earth, forest floor and hints of shaved truffle."

ABOUT THE WINERY

The Pio Cesare family’s unique winemaking method stresses minimal intervention to produce wines of particularly supple flavor expression. A ceaseless devotion to the individuality of each of the region’s wines informs Pio Cesare’s choices in the cellar: shorter maceration, separate lot fermentation, judicious selection for barrel and large cask aging, and bottling schedules determined by the ideal structure of each wine. This allows Pio Cesare to craft wines of varying weight, ageability and drinkability as determined by the vineyard rather than market fashion.

This Barolo is produced using the classic “formula” used by traditional Barolo families: a wine which embraces and combines each of the unique characteristics of the different terroirs of the appellation, sourcing grapes from the family’s multiple vineyards in different communes.

In the 2018 vintage, the family produced a Barolo with defined structure, intense color and aromatic complexity, a great concentration of red fruits, high acidity, clean and firm tannins, round and silky but at the same time structured and powerful, very long-lasting and with an excellent aging potential.

WINEMAKING

The grapes are sourced from family-owned vineyards in Serralunga d’Alba (Ornato), Grinzane Cavour (Gustava), La Morra (Roncaglie), Barolo Novello (Ravera), and Monforte d’Alba (Mosconi). Vinification takes place in stainless steel tanks, with skin contact for about 30 days. The wine is aged in mid-toasted French oak for three years: 70 percent in 20 to 50 hectoliter casks; 30 percent in barriques.