Pio Cesare Barolo 2018
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Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
A classic style Barolo. Excellent structure, harmony and elegance. Soft tannins and balanced fruit. Approachable, but with a very long ageing potential. Barolo is a great wine, which should not be described as a “basic” or “regular” Barolo, simply because it does not have any additional indication on the label.
Professional Ratings
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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.
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Robert Parker's 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.
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Decanter
The new selection 'Pio' from Pio Cesare is a blend of the different MGAs of the estate. Classic bright garnet in the glass, the wine is focused on cherry kernels with tar, violet, a bit of camphor and sweet spices. The attack is firm and crisp, introducing a brilliant crunchiness on the palate along with grainy tannins which stretch to a slightly austere finish. It lacks a bit of pulp - a signature of the 2018 vintage - but this is one of the best village-level Barolo this year.
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Wine Enthusiast
Underbrush, hazelnut and new leather aromas come to the forefront along with a whiff of eucalyptus. Linear and already accessible, the palate offers toasted nut, dried cherry and licorice before a coffee close. Polished, refined tannins provide support.
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Wine Spectator
A spicy red, with cherry and floral aromas and flavors picking up accents of wild herbs and iron. Trim and balanced, ending with a light dusting of tannins and fine length. Best from 2024 through 2038.
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Pio Cesare has been producing wine for more than 100 years and through generations. The tradition began in 1881, when Pio Cesare started gathering grapes in his vineyards and purchasing those of some selected and reliable farmers in the hills of Barolo and Barbaresco districts.
At Pio Cesare, there has always been a conviction that great wine can come only from the finest grapes and the winery's output has always been limited through adherence to the highest standards. Pio Cesare limits its production by using only the most mature and healthy grapes. The ripening of the grapes is carefully monitored and the harvest is rigidly controlled with each grape selected by hand.
Today, the estate is managed by Pio Boffa, great-grandson of Pio Cesare. Under his stewardship, the wines of Pio Cesare have become famous throughout the world. Great strides have been made in quality, and single vineyard offerings have dazzled the wine press.
Responsible for some of the most elegant and age-worthy wines in the world, Nebbiolo, named for the ubiquitous autumnal fog (called nebbia in Italian), is the star variety of northern Italy’s Piedmont region. Grown throughout the area, as well as in the neighboring Valle d’Aosta and Valtellina, it reaches its highest potential in the Piedmontese villages of Barolo, Barbaresco and Roero. Outside of Italy, growers are still very much in the experimentation stage but some success has been achieved in parts of California. Somm Secret—If you’re new to Nebbiolo, start with a charming, wallet-friendly, early-drinking Langhe Nebbiolo or Nebbiolo d'Alba.
The center of the production of the world’s most exclusive and age-worthy red wines made from Nebbiolo, the Barolo wine region includes five core townships: La Morra, Monforte d’Alba, Serralunga d’Alba, Castiglione Falletto and the Barolo village itself, as well as a few outlying villages. The landscape of Barolo, characterized by prominent and castle-topped hills, is full of history and romance centered on the Nebbiolo grape. Its wines, with the signature “tar and roses” aromas, have a deceptively light garnet color but full presence on the palate and plenty of tannins and acidity. In a well-made Barolo wine, one can expect to find complexity and good evolution with notes of, for example, strawberry, cherry, plum, leather, truffle, anise, fresh and dried herbs, tobacco and violets.
There are two predominant soil types here, which distinguish Barolo from the lesser surrounding areas. Compact and fertile Tortonian sandy marls define the vineyards farthest west and at higher elevations. Typically the Barolo wines coming from this side, from La Morra and Barolo, can be approachable relatively early on in their evolution and represent the “feminine” side of Barolo, often closer in style to Barbaresco with elegant perfume and fresh fruit.
On the eastern side of the Barolo wine region, Helvetian soils of compressed sandstone and chalks are less fertile, producing wines with intense body, power and structured tannins. This more “masculine” style comes from Monforte d’Alba and Serralunga d’Alba. The township of Castiglione Falletto covers a spine with both soil types.
The best Barolo wines need 10-15 years before they are ready to drink, and can further age for several decades.