2005 Barolo Pajana

I still remember tasting Domenico Clerico's 2005 Barolos in the old tasting room, a place that is filled with many memories of amazing tastings over the years. The 2005s are mostly worthy follow up to the stellar 2004s. The wines are rich, super-concentrated and powerful. Readers might want to give the 2005s a bit more time in the cellar, but I would be concerned with the fruit drying out and would prefer to drink the wines on the younger side, but opened well in advance. I tasted the 2005s twice, one at the winery and on a second occasion in my office with bottles purchased on release. Bottles from my cellar were in far better shape than those from the winery. The only 2005 that is not impressive is the Percristina, which is totally covered by French oak. I had hoped that wine would one day emerge, as so many wines have here over the years, but it has never happened, and I don't think it ever will.

Cellarmaster Massimo Conterno, who since my September visit has just left Clerico after 25 years, considers all the Barolo vintages from 2004 through 2008 to have large structures but finds 2004 and 2006 the most powerful of this group-as well as the best balanced. "The '07s and the '05s are a bit finer, with less body for their tannins," he told me. "They will need time in bottle to find their balance, especially the 2005s, which can be aggressive. The dividing line in 2005 was the last rain. Wines made from fruit picked after that are much less successful." Incidentally, the extraordinary 2004 Per Cristina bottling is a worthy successor to the 2001, and the beat goes on with the 2005 and especially the 2006. All the Barolos here are aged for 24 to 26 months in a blend of 70% new and 30% once-used barriques, then go into stainless steel tanks for the rest of their elevage. Clerico's monumental new winery outside Monforte, which reminds me a bit of Dulles Airport during its construction, is still a work in progress but is scheduled to be completed in time to handle the 2010 harvest. (Marc de Grazia; numerous importers, including Michael Skurnik Wines, Syosset, NY; Robert Houde Wines, Bensenville, IL; and Estate Wines Ltd., San Rafael, CA)

Domenico Clerico's 2005 Barolos are among the handful of wines in this vintage that reveal the three-dimensional qualities that make Barolo such a seductive wine. Unfortunately there is no Percristina, as the vintage that would have been released is the 2002, in which Clerico did not produce his single-vineyard Barolos. In August 2008 I spent a morning driving around Clerico's vineyards in the Ginestra zone of Monforte, which is the source of his Pajana and Ciabot Mentin Ginestra Barolos. It is impossible to fully appreciate the backbreaking effort that is required to manually work these steep vineyards without setting foot in the vines themselves. The site of green-harvested fruit strewn across the ground was a testament to Clerico's dedication to low yields. In recent years Clerico has gradually lengthened maceration times and lowered the use of new oak, both of which are allowing for the purity of that fruit to come through with extraordinary detail.