2019 - Barolo Monvigliero, Fratelli Alessandria

The 2019 Barolo Monvigliero shows a medium dark garnet appearance with an especially focused quality of fruit. There is wild cherry and Japanese plum, but the Monvigliero cru also delivers crushed rose, earthy iris root, candied orange peel with clove and dustings of black pepper. The wine is exceedingly silky and polished in texture, but its inherent complexity is never diminished. It should be interesting to revisit this bottle after the 10-year mark. This estate was the first to bottle a Monvigliero in 1978, and today 7,000 bottles are made.

The 2019 Barolo Monvigliero is a potent wine for a site usually known for finesse. Dark red cherry, iron, dried herbs, cedar and tobacco all drive through this painfully backward, somber Barolo. Here, too, readers will have to be patient. This is an especially forbidding Monvigliero.

Verduno. Lustrous mid-to-deep ruby. Layers of ripe red fruit with savoury, saline hints. A sensational palate of richness and elegance, with bags of polished tannins that follow the fruit rather than dominating it. Layered finish that shows incredible depth. (WS)