Vietti, Barolo, Brunate 2017

Sourced from an average of 54-year-old vines in Brunate of La Morra, the 2017 Barolo Brunate was aged for 32 months in large oak cask and barriques. It offers brooding aromas of licorice, dried currant, and cedar. Congruent on the palate with mineral-rich turned earth, there is a firmly built structure with balance. Drink 2024-2050.

Beautiful, sweet fruit and perfumes on the nose with fresh flowers, such as roses. Full-bodied with fine, dusty tannins and a long, persistent finish. Very caressing. Builds on the palate at the end. Drink after 2024.

A release of 4,981 bottles, the Vietti 2017 Barolo Brunate is beautifully rich and fleshed out, with balanced fruit weight and inner structure. The bouquet reveals tart cherry and cassis, but the Brunate also shows a more delicate side, with crushed flowers, dried violet and polished stone. The power of this cru creeps up on the palate, where you feel the tightness of its fiber and tannins. Following that delicate aromatic preface, this Barolo ultimately delivers a strong, cellar-worthy performance.

The 2017 Barolo Brunate is a powerful, brooding wine. Huge dark fruit, leather, spice, menthol and dried herbs all build in a potent Barolo that is enshrouded by tannins. The 2017 is going to need quite a bit of time in the cellar. Today, it is very much a brooding powerhouse. Dark wild cherry, licorice, tar, menthol and spice take shape in the glass, but the 2017 is clearly an infant, and an unruly one at that.