2016 Pio Cesare Barolo DOCG, Piedmont, Italy (750ml)

-  Wine Enthusiast 96pts

Traditionalists happily fall back to this wine from Pio Cesare. This historic winery, now in its fifth generation and located within the city limits of Alba, takes care to shape a classic interpretation without too many extra bells or whistles. The fact that Pio Cesare now has the flashier Barolo Ornato and the newly created Barolo Mosconi, only gives more importance to this wine. The Pio Cesare 2016 Barolo offers deep, dark fruit with a mingling of spice, smoke, tar and smoke. This wine represents a blend of fruit from five comuni, or villages: Cascina Ornato, La Serra and Briccolina in Serralunga d'Alba; Gustava and Garretti in Grinzane Cavour; Roncaglie in La Morra; Ravera in Novello; and starting with the 2015 vintage, Mosconi in Monforte d’Alba.

- Robert Parker's Wine Advocate 95pts

The 2016 Barolo reveals a deep purple hue as well as impressive black cherry, blackberry, crushed violets, and toasted spice, with plenty of minerality developing with time in the glass. Medium-bodied, rich, and beautifully textured on the palate, this balanced, straight-up gorgeous Barolo will benefit from 2-4 years of bottle age and cruise for two decades in cold cellars.

- Jeb Dunnuck 94pts