2015  Barbaresco Rose delle Casasse

Barbaresco Rose delle Casasse ---- "The 2015 Barbaresco Riserva Rose delle Casasse is one of the most distinctive wines in all of Piedmont. It emerges from a tiny parcel in Neive first planted in 1913 with the Rose clone of Nebbiolo known for its aromatic intensity, that is rarely seen these days. Deeply bright and perfumed, the 2015 offers up an exotic mélange of sweet red cherry, blood orange, mint, spice, rose petal and kirsch. There's terrific depth and plenty of substance to wrap it all together. The 2015 spent four years in wood, a combination of small barrels and medium-sized casks. I wonder what this wine would like taste like if it was aged in more neutral oak, as there is a bit of oak tannin here. Even so, the 2015 is an exquisite wine and a Barbaresco of real character." - 96pts Vinous

2015  

"The 2015 Barolo Bricco Rocche is gorgeous, and the key here is elegance. The winemaking team at Ceretto has finely integrated the tannins so that the wine comes out as super silky and fine. Showing all the delicate balsamic notes and dark fruit typical of the variety, this Barolo with fruit from Castiglione Falletto has just about everything that you expect from this prestigious denomination, surely even deserving a filet mignon to accompany it when you do open the bottle down the road from today. Some 4,000 bottles were made." - 98pts WA ---- "Instantly attractive and ethereal nose with rich perfume and ripe red cherries and plums, as well as wild flowers and herbs. So beautiful and complex. The palate has such concentration and purity from start to finish. There’s an incredibly deep vein of ripe cherries here, framed in perfectly polished and layered tannins. Great Barolo. Try from 2023." - 98pts JS

2017  Barbera

Barbera ---- "The Michele Chiarlo 2017 Nizza Riserva La Court is a beautifully enriched and generous wine that gives ample volume and depth to the Barbera grape. This food-friendly option shows the dark fruit (blackberry and plum) to pair with most pasta or meat dishes. It also offers just enough acidity to cut through any recipe that is heavy on cheese or cream. This bottle is ready to drink now." - 92pts WA

2019  

"The 2019 Barbera d'Alba Vigna Francia is all about precision, power and a meticulous orderly approach that brings new intervals of increased aromatic intensity with each sip and swirl of the glass. The wine can be characterized as exceptionally direct and frank, and these qualities are especially well executed in this classic vintage. Barbera is cultivated at the top and the lower parts of the Francia vineyard, and this wine carries slightly more fruit weight and structure compared to the Cerretta. Francia also ends with distinctly mineral or graphite-like notes with iron or rust." - 94+pts Wine Advocate

2016  

"The 2016 Barolo Arione is a sort of synthesis between the Cerretta and Francia. It has the red fruit profile and floral overtones of the former with a feeling of structure that recalls the later. Arione Barolos always have a distinctly wild, feral quality strong on iron and mineral notes, which is very much the case here. Logically, the 2016 needs a bit of time to soften, but it is super-impressive. It is perhaps a bit less polished than the Francia, but it also has a phenomenally long, classically austere finish. It’s the sort of wine I would like to spend a few hours with. In 2016, there is no Monfortino, so all of the Arione wine is in this bottling, unlike 2015, when a portion was blended into Monfortino." - 96pts Antonio Galloni

2017  

"The 2017 Barolo Arione is so incredibly distinctive. Heady savory, earthy, lavender and mineral accents wrap around a core of dark Nebbiolo fruit in a potent, muscular Serralunga that speaks with gravitas and authority. There is something mysterious about Arione, something that is not easily understood, but that is very much at the heart of its personality. The depth, presence and tannic clout are Serralunga at its best. I can't wait to check in on the 2017 in another few years, or decades." - 97pts Antonio Galloni ---- "The Giacomo Conterno 2017 Barolo Arione is my favorite in a mini vertical from this cru site in Serralunga d'Alba. I prefer the 2017 to the classic 2016 and the wine's inaugural vintage, the 2015. What this vintage has is an ample and generous sense of fullness and stature. These results are impressive, and even imposing to an extent. This is a statement wine that proudly submits multiple layers of black fruit, blackcurrant, cast iron, earth, licorice root and cola. The supportive tannins are well played against the wine's rich texture, natural structure and fruit concentration. The power of a warm vintage and the muscle power of Arione overlap in this special bottle and will carry this wine over extended aging." - 97pts Wine Advocate

2017  

"The 2017 Barolo Francia is dense, rich and explosive right out of the gate. There is virtually no feeling of tannin, as the creaminess of the fruit is so expansive. Bright red cherry fruit, blood orange, kirsch, sage and menthol gradually appear as the 2017 starts to open in the glass. In 2017, Francia is decidedly exotic, not to mention such a thrill to taste." - 97pts Antonio Galloni ---- "I tasted the Giacomo Conterno 2017 Barolo Francia shortly before bottling. Like Roberto Conterno's other wines from this controversial vintage, this wine shines with brilliant and unexpected purity and intensity that is harder to find in its peers. It shows a deep understanding of the potential of a warm growing season, and the Nebbiolo is supple, velvety and uncharacteristically exuberant (for a grape whose elegance starts famously with understatement). Francia in Serralunga d'Alba evokes power and profound depth, with black and purple fruit highlights, rusty nail, crème de cassis, grilled rosemary and reddish rock or baked terracotta. The wine carries its considerable fruit weight with grace, and at the end of the day, it offers a complete portrait of vintage, variety and vintner." - 97pts Wine Advocate

2015  

"The 2015 Barolo Riserva Monfortino is magical. This is the first vintage that includes fruit from Arione, so the 2015 is 80% Francia and 20% Arione. That marks a return to Monfortino as a multi-vineyard wine, which it mostly was until 1978, when the first Monfortino from Francia was made. The combination of sites works so well. I remember tasting the 2015 as separate components and seeing what exactly the Arione piece adds, and that is aromatic explosiveness, texture and breadth. Rose petal, mint, sage, tobacco and cedar lend complexity. More than anything else, though, I am blown away by how utterly delicious the 2015 is. Of course, the 2015 will be better in time, but its pedigree is plainly evident today. Roberto Conterno gave the 2015 just five years in cask, the shortest time in wood for any Monfortino in recent memory, maybe ever. Like most producers around the world, Conterno is thinking deeply about what the optimal period of time in oak is. As for the 2015, it is a flat-out stunner in every way." - 99pts Antonio Galloni

2015  

"The 2015 Barolo Riserva Monfortino is magical. This is the first vintage that includes fruit from Arione, so the 2015 is 80% Francia and 20% Arione. That marks a return to Monfortino as a multi-vineyard wine, which it mostly was until 1978, when the first Monfortino from Francia was made. The combination of sites works so well. I remember tasting the 2015 as separate components and seeing what exactly the Arione piece adds, and that is aromatic explosiveness, texture and breadth. Rose petal, mint, sage, tobacco and cedar lend complexity. More than anything else, though, I am blown away by how utterly delicious the 2015 is. Of course, the 2015 will be better in time, but its pedigree is plainly evident today. Roberto Conterno gave the 2015 just five years in cask, the shortest time in wood for any Monfortino in recent memory, maybe ever. Like most producers around the world, Conterno is thinking deeply about what the optimal period of time in oak is. As for the 2015, it is a flat-out stunner in every way." - 99pts Antonio Galloni

2015  

99pts Antonio Galloni

2017  Barolo

2018  

"The 2018 Gattinara comes from a vintage that performed well in this part of Alto Piemonte. I think what stands out here is the freshness, the balance of acidity that plays nicely into the minerality of the wine and the brightness of its wild rose and redcurrant flavors. This Gattinara carries a lot of fruit and primary intensity, all backed by subtle touches of balsam herb and soft tarry end notes. This 2018 underlines the elegance in Nebbiolo." - 94pts Wine Advocate