The tar and asphalt comes through here with ripe plum and berry character too. Full body, tight and muscular. Deep and thought-provoking. Give it two or three years to open but already impressive to taste.

The 2012 Barolo Ravera is once again a star. Finely cut and chiseled throughout, the 2012 boasts striking precision and nuance. Rose petal, chalk, white pepper, cranberry and pomegranate burst forward in a brilliant, exceptionally polished Barolo built on pure, sculpted elegance. Over the last few years Vietti has done a tremendous job in taming the intense Ravera tannins while preserving all of the focus that makes the wines from this site so alluring. The Ravera has been fabulous on the two occassions I have tasted it so far.

The 2012 Barolo Ravera is a beautiful wine and a fully-loaded Nebbiolo. The wine offers thick lines and deep concentration with seamless integration even at this very young stage in its evolution. The bouquet is redolent of dried cherry, spice, tar and tilled earth. This is a wine of utmost elegance, grace and nobility. Past vintages have appeared firmly closed when tasted too young, but the 2012 vintage is more relaxed and unclenched than expected.

The wonderful wines of Vietti have me thinking a lot about Langhe Nebbiolo lately. The 2013 Langhe Nebbiolo Perbacco is definitely among the top ten "easiest-to-drink" wines I've tasted this year. Following a long morning of tasting new vintage of Barolo, I invited a few guests out to lunch. I wanted to grab an open bottle from my morning session and this is the one I re-corked and stuffed into my purse. Some 20 minutes later I was sitting outside on a warm spring day at one of my favorite restaurants in the center of Alba. I ordered lightly grilled squid as an appetizer and a portion of carne cruda covered in thinly shaved scales of black truffle. I could have grabbed a Barolo, but the sunlit setting and the raw ingredients in the lunch menu were a perfect match for Langhe Nebbiolo. In fact, the Perbacco awarded me my most memorab(more...)

This is rich, pure and focused, featuring ripe cherry, raspberry, spice and tobacco aromas and flavors. Elegant and harmonious, if a bit closed on the finish now, but everything is in the right place. The sweet fruit returns on the aftertaste.