1997 Barolo

Director Pio Boffa radically updated levage at this old house three years ago when he got rid of all the ancient 20- to 80-hectoliter botti in one shot. Today the Pio Cesare wines are aged in a combination of barriques and larger barrels; the vineyard-designated Barolo Ornato and Barbaresco Il Bricco get a higher percentage of new small barrels than the Barolo and Barbaresco classico bottlings ("don't call them regular Barolo and Barbaresco," says Boffa). Boffa told me that the Ornato and Bricco bottlings are vinified more for sweetness and lush tannins, to suit a more modern palate, while the classicos are more traditionally styled, showing more of a dried-fruit character and finishing astringency. For example, the fruit reserved for Ornato normally comes from three "sweet spots" within the house 15-hectare Serralunga vineyard. It generally receives a shorter maceration in order to privilege fruit over tannin extraction, then ages in a considerably higher percentage of new barriques than the classico. "Ornato is not better or worse than the classico " Boffa emphasizes. "It just has more power and muscles without showing the typically astringent Serralunga tannins." Boffa is a big fan of the '98 vintage, describing it as "a step above 1997 in density, fruit sweetness and roundness."

Of the 40 hectares owned by Pio Cesare, 23 are in Barolo, and total Barolo production is about 6,000 cases a year. While all of the firm Barbaresco comes from its own vines, its vineyards account for 65% of its Barolo production. The rest comes from suppliers with whom Pio Cesare has worked for 65 years; the firm is in a position to tell its growers how to prune, spray, drop crop at veraison and harvest. Pio Cesare large Ornato estate in Serralunga (25 hectares of vines in total) has the potential to produce 50,000 bottles of Barolo, but the firm's policy is to bottle no more than 1,000 cases of Ornato in any vintage. The fruit from favored plots selected at the outset for possible bottling as Ornato is fermented at higher temperature but spends less time on the skins; these lots are aged in about 70% barriques most of which are new. The rest of the nebbiolo from Ornato becomes an important component of the firm's Barolo normale. Today's Barolos are made in a combination of barriques and 20 to 135 hectoliter botti. The components are not assembled until shortly before the bottling, which typically takes place the fourth spring after the vintage. Director Pio Boffa told me that it is possible that some of the Barolos I sampled from barrique may well end up as part of the Ornato bottling. x000D x000D x000D x000D x000D x000D x000D x000D x000D x000D The most important thing is to avoid high acidity and green tannins in Barolo, says Boffa. It is impossible, he says, to get rid of green tannins. Not surprisingly, Boffa has high hopes for the '97 vintage. "We want to make supple wines; we are not afraid of low-acid vintages like '97." Still, he feels that the '96 was a great vintage in the Serralunga area and that the '97s are generally a bit more disjointed today.