Pio Cesare Barolo 2004
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#6 Wine Spectator Top 100 of 2008
Barolo is the most fascinating of all the Pio Cesare wines and features an air of aristocracy and a domineering personality. Yet the Barolo is rich with hidden hues enjoyed by those who take the time to savor the wine. Pio Cesare Barolo is intentionally "traditional", austere and important and a wine to be approached thoughtfully.
The color is an intense glossy garnet, with orange reflections. The bouquet is ethereal, with hints of violets, blackberry jam, licorice and cloves. The palate is dry and austere with lengthy tannins. The wine ends with a long concentrated finish accompanied by a lingering hint of almonds.
""Extremely attractive aromas of blackberry, fresh mushroom and mahogany. Full-bodied, with lovely fruit, soft tannins and a long finish. Chewy, yet balanced and pretty. Builds on the palate. Big and juicy. Best after 2010." 94 Points
Wine Spectator
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
What a nose, I love this! Decadent and intense with blueberries, meat, truffles, and a foie gras like character. Full and very velvety, super integrated, with a long and caressing finish. A triumph. Pull the cork, no need to wait.
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Wine Spectator
Extremely attractive aromas of blackberry, fresh mushroom and mahogany. Full-bodied, with lovely fruit, soft tannins and a long finish. Chewy, yet balanced and pretty. Builds on the palate. A big and juicy red.
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Wine Enthusiast
Plenty of leather, rose and vanilla from toasty French oak make for a very pretty opening. The full-bodied palate shows exuberant cherry and boysenberry flavors wrapped in a refined tannin structure. A modern expression that can be enjoyed now or laid down to await more complexity.
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Pio Cesare has been producing wine for more than 100 years and through generations. The tradition began in 1881, when Pio Cesare started gathering grapes in his vineyards and purchasing those of some selected and reliable farmers in the hills of Barolo and Barbaresco districts.
At Pio Cesare, there has always been a conviction that great wine can come only from the finest grapes and the winery's output has always been limited through adherence to the highest standards. Pio Cesare limits its production by using only the most mature and healthy grapes. The ripening of the grapes is carefully monitored and the harvest is rigidly controlled with each grape selected by hand.
Today, the estate is managed by Pio Boffa, great-grandson of Pio Cesare. Under his stewardship, the wines of Pio Cesare have become famous throughout the world. Great strides have been made in quality, and single vineyard offerings have dazzled the wine press.
Responsible for some of the most elegant and age-worthy wines in the world, Nebbiolo, named for the ubiquitous autumnal fog (called nebbia in Italian), is the star variety of northern Italy’s Piedmont region. Grown throughout the area, as well as in the neighboring Valle d’Aosta and Valtellina, it reaches its highest potential in the Piedmontese villages of Barolo, Barbaresco and Roero. Outside of Italy, growers are still very much in the experimentation stage but some success has been achieved in parts of California. Somm Secret—If you’re new to Nebbiolo, start with a charming, wallet-friendly, early-drinking Langhe Nebbiolo or Nebbiolo d'Alba.
The center of the production of the world’s most exclusive and age-worthy red wines made from Nebbiolo, the Barolo wine region includes five core townships: La Morra, Monforte d’Alba, Serralunga d’Alba, Castiglione Falletto and the Barolo village itself, as well as a few outlying villages. The landscape of Barolo, characterized by prominent and castle-topped hills, is full of history and romance centered on the Nebbiolo grape. Its wines, with the signature “tar and roses” aromas, have a deceptively light garnet color but full presence on the palate and plenty of tannins and acidity. In a well-made Barolo wine, one can expect to find complexity and good evolution with notes of, for example, strawberry, cherry, plum, leather, truffle, anise, fresh and dried herbs, tobacco and violets.
There are two predominant soil types here, which distinguish Barolo from the lesser surrounding areas. Compact and fertile Tortonian sandy marls define the vineyards farthest west and at higher elevations. Typically the Barolo wines coming from this side, from La Morra and Barolo, can be approachable relatively early on in their evolution and represent the “feminine” side of Barolo, often closer in style to Barbaresco with elegant perfume and fresh fruit.
On the eastern side of the Barolo wine region, Helvetian soils of compressed sandstone and chalks are less fertile, producing wines with intense body, power and structured tannins. This more “masculine” style comes from Monforte d’Alba and Serralunga d’Alba. The township of Castiglione Falletto covers a spine with both soil types.
The best Barolo wines need 10-15 years before they are ready to drink, and can further age for several decades.