2018 Barolo Lazzarito

I was not at all surprised to see such a tremendous showing from Vietti because I had already tasted the 2018s from cask two years ago, pre-pandemic. The 2018 Barolos are absolutely beautiful. There is not much more to say than that. Over the years, Luca Currado and Elena Penna have dialed in a style that works well for these vineyards. The Vietti Barolos are marked by intense fruit that is partly the result of bleeding the musts. The Barolos are done entirely in cask these days, which is a great complement to all of that intensity. Time on the skins ranged from three weeks or so for the Brunate and Lazzarito to as much as five weeks for the Ravera and Rocche. All of the wines were done with submerged cap maceration. "These were some of our longest macerations of the last three years," Luca Currado explained.

Readers will note the addition of two new wines that have been thrilling since the first day I tasted them. The first is from a choice parcel in Cerequio Vietti acquired from Michele Chiarlo. The new Monvigliero is made in conjunction with Jeremy Seysses of Domaine Dujac and has some whole cluster influence. As much as I hope stems don't become a trend in Piedmont like French oak barrels did in the 1990s, there is little question whole clusters seem to work especially well in Monvigliero. These wines are simply brilliant. There is not much more to say than that.