Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Really attractive blue fruit and flowers with hints of minerals. Full-bodied, very tight and sexy with super fine tannins, at the same time. A structured and racy young wine. Better after 2021.
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Jeb Dunnuck
First produced in 2015 in honor of Pio Boffa’s 60th birthday, the Mosconi was aged for 30 months in a combination of French barrique and large botti. The 2016 Barolo Mosconi benefits from decanting upon opening and gives way to savory aromatics of balsamic, dried cherry, cedar, and tobacco. There is up-front fruit and gripping structure, with wild raspberry, game, clove, and dried herbs as well as a warming and long, persistent finish. Drink 2024-2048.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
This is the second vintage released of this new wine from Pio Cesare, and what an elegant treat it is. The 2016 Barolo Mosconi, with fruit from Monforte d'Alba, is a toned and slender wine that shows the inner power and muscle of this corner of the appellation. The bouquet is defined by a pretty mineral note that is backed by wild berry fruit, rose petal and a dusting of crushed stone or tilled earth. I feel the tight tannins of this wine, but I also taste the elegance of the fruit that surrounds them. Rating: 96+
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Wine Enthusiast
Woodland-berry, pine-forest and rose aromas mingle with whiffs of dark spice and menthol. On the full-bodied palate, firm fine-grained tannins accompany juicy Marasca cherry, cranberry and licorice while fresh acidity keeps well balanced. Drink 2024–2036.
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.