2007 Barolo Pajana

Domenico Clerico's spectacular new winery is finally close to completion after several years of construction, and the 2011 harvest was vinified there. In recent years Clerico has backed off on some of his more modern techniques and says he is now making wines with more structure and grip. Even as far back as the outstanding 2001 vintage, Clerico told me, he thought his wines had too much oak, and he considered his past dolcettos to be too big. "Sometimes we had to wait three or four years to drink them, which is not the point of dolcetto," he told me. According to Clerico, 2008 stands out for its overall freshness. "It's not just a question of acidity. And it's not an easy-drinking vintage like 2007." Incidentally, Clerico's Pajana fruit was already in a rotofermenter by the time of my visit, having been harvested early, on September 16. He was giving it a shorter maceration for fear of getting dry tannins. Cellarmaster Gianmatteo ("Jimmy") Raineri compared vintage 2009 to 2007. "It was great for barbera because that grape likes warmth," he said, "but the nebbiolo could be better. And the 2007 has rather soft tannins. "We're more Piemontese: we like grip and tannic structure."

It's great to see Domenico Clerico pretty much back to his normal self after a bout with illness over the last few years. Despite having made so many dazzling wines in the past, I can't help thinking Clerico's best Baroli may still lie ahead. Maceration times have been gradually lengthened, the use of new French oak has come down in most of the wines and there are rumblings that larger casks are on the way. As always, I tasted a large selection of wines during my recent visit to the estate, including 4-5 vintages of each of the Baroli. Clerico's 2006s are emotional, moving wines that are living up to the praise I bestowed upon them last year. The 2007s are stratospheric, while the 2008s are developing very well, albeit in a more classic style than the decidedly exuberant 2007s. In 2008 Clerico has a Barolo from his vineyard in Bussia that is still being raised separately and may be bottled on its own. Based on multiple tastings, it is a special Barolo. It's still early for the 2009s, but today they are less viscerally thrilling, pretty much in line with the way most wines of that year are showing right now.