Ceretto, Barolo, Brunate 2016

I wasn't sure how to order my tasting flight of Ceretto's four single-vineyard Baroli (from Castiglione Falletto, Monforte d'Alba and Serralunga d'Alba), so I decided to start with this wine from Brunate in La Morra, at the heart of the appellation. The 2016 Barolo Brunate shows a dark core of fruit, and you are immediately aware of the depth and profound nature of this wine. The bouquet is lifted by cassis, wild cherry and plum. The ferrous quality that we saw in some of the other wines is softer here, and I would describe Brunate as the most fruit-forward (at this young stage) with elegant tannins and impactful fruit weight on the finish. All of these wines are aged in new oak (just 10% of the total) and used oak barrel (90%) for the first 12 months. After that, the wine is racked into Austrian oak casks for an additional two years before going into bottle for one more year.

The 2016 Barolo Brunate balances delicacy and freshness. Cinammon, blood orange, mint and licorice are some of the notes that grace the 2016 Barolo Brunate. Wonderfully layered and supple, the 2016 has so much to offer. Like all of these 2016s, it very nicely combines elegance with power. The Brunate is all about texture and volume; it is less open aromatically than some of the other wines in this range but very, very good nonetheless. It finishes with real breadth.