2018 Pio Cesare Barolo

The Nebbiolo grapes for the Barolo come from the most beautiful slopes of the region. The largest part, about 70%, comes from the family's own vineyards in Serralunga d'Alba. The rest comes from producers in Castiglione Falletto and Monfort, who have been supplying grapes to the family for over a hundred years. The grapes from Serralunga give strength, those from Castiglione Falletto aroma and seduction, those from Monforte refinement and subtlety. The grapes are harvested and selected by hand, and harvested only when they are perfectly ripe, from mid-October to even early November. The grapes ferment at about 25 degrees and they stay in contact with the fermenting wine for between three and four weeks, just like with the Barbaresco. The aging is also the same, in barriques, partly new barrels of French oak, partly in new barrels of Slavonian oak. Long barrel aging has also been chosen here, up to three years for part of the wine, to give it more complexity and to further emphasize the beauty of the wine. The result is a special, monumental Barolo.

The Barolo of Pio Cesare is broad and complex, powerful, herbs, roses, earthy, truffle and laurel, the taste nicely powerful, but also velvety and soft, nicely balanced, with a lot of finesse and with nice tannins after. Wonderful with venison steak or hare pepper, mature cheeses, but of course also delicious as wine after a nice meal

The house Pio Cesare is one of the classic producers of the region. Located in Alba, the 'wine capital' of this region, and founded in 1881 by Cesare Pio. His name has been preserved in reverse order as the name of this trading house and family business. It is still family owned, as it is headed by Pio Boffa, the founder's great-grandson. He continues the family's work in an excellent manner, while also being responsible for a number of modernizations and changes at this fine, traditional company. Pio Cesare, for example, has always been a trading house that bought the grapes on contract from winegrowers in the region. This is also a common practice in this region, which has many small winegrowers with small plots of vineyard, who are always willing to sell their grapes to one of the trading houses. In that respect, the region is a bit like Burgundy, with all those different vineyards, each with its own name, subdivided into small vineyards, all owned by a different winegrower.

Pio Boffa has decided that it is good for the quality of the wines to also own vineyards. Over the years he has acquired a number of vineyards, especially in the famous areas of Barolo and Barbaresco. The vineyard property now covers 45 hectares, and produces some of the finest wines in the house, with a few separate vineyard cuvées as toppers. These are only marketed in the good years.

The necessary changes have also been made in winemaking. A very restrained vinification has been chosen, in which the wine is left alone as much as possible, so with as few interventions as possible. Each wine receives the individual treatment that best suits that particular wine, with a shorter or longer fermentation on the skins, whether or not followed by a classic aging in Slavonian oak, the traditional wood of the region. It produces wines with a classic finesse, balanced and complex, worthy representatives of this special wine region.