1998 Barolo
Italy
Serralunga D'alba, Monforte D'alba, La Morra, Grinzane Cavour, Novello
Piedmont
Red
Nebbiolo
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Pio Cesare was in the process of renovating and expanding its ancient winemaking facility and barrel cellar in Alba when I visited in late September. Under the direction of Pio Boffa, this traditional producer has updated its wines radically in recent years without sacrificing typicity or character. The house's Barbaresco Il Bricco and Barolo Ornato are vinified for sweetness of fruit and lush tannins; these wines age in a higher percentage of new barriques than the winery's regular Barbaresco and Barolo bottlings (Cesare refers to them as classico) which also age partly in small barrels but tend to have more pronounced tannic spine and less obvious early appeal. Boffa describes 2001, 2000 and 1999 as very dry years, but prefers them to 1997, another drought year in which, he said, the grape skins had a tendency to dehydrate before the tannins were completely ripe. Two years ago Boffa told me he was enamored of the '98s; he described these wines as denser, sweeter and rounder than the '97s.
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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."