Pio Cesare Barolo Pio DOCG

Piemonte, Italy

Vintage:2019 (Current)

2017 (Past) | 2018 (Past) |

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Pio Cesare Barolo Pio DOCG 2019
  • OB 95

Reviews

Owen Bargreen

95 Points

February 2023, Owen Bargreen

“Really singing already at four years of age, the 2019 Pio Cesare Barolo is a gorgeous effort from this vintage. Intense Asian spices and potpourri notes flood the nose, with shades of kumquat zest and freshly tilled damp earth. The palate is plush and seamless with a very soft texture and glorious length. Firm tannins frame a core of wild strawberry, guava fruit and shades of tangerine peel. Really good now, try to give this at least another year to mature in the bottle. Drink 2024-2045.”

Overview

The Pio Cesare family’s unique winemaking method stresses minimal intervention to produce wines of particularly supple flavor expression. A ceaseless devotion to the individuality of each of the region’s wines informs Pio Cesare's choices in the cellar: shorter maceration, separate lot fermentation, judicious selection for barrel and large cask aging, and bottling schedules determined by the ideal structure of each wine. This allows Pio Cesare to craft wines of varying weight, ageability and drinkability as determined by the vineyard rather than market fashion.

This Barolo is produced using the classic “formula” of traditional Barolo families: a wine which embraces and combines each of the unique characteristics of the different terroirs of the appellation, sourcing grapes from the family's multiple vineyards in different communes. 

Winemaking

The grapes are sourced from family-owned vineyards in Serralunga d’Alba (Ornato, la Serra, la Briccolina, Lirano), Grinzane Cavour (Gustava, Garretti), La Morra (Roncaglie), Novello (Ravera), and Monforte d’Alba (Mosconi). Vinification takes place in stainless steel tanks, with skin contact for about 30 days. The wine is aged in mid-toasted French oak for three years: 70 percent in 20 to 50 hectoliter casks; 30 percent in barriques.

Tasting Notes

A traditional vintage delivering fresh fruits and beautiful aromas, with great structure and complexity, intense color and a balanced acidity, with sharp tannins but already approachable—all the classic components of the great outstanding vintages of Barolo.

Harvest Notes

The particular conditions of the 2019 vintage, with its warm climate and the absence of extremes (frost, heat spikes), an abundant water supply and a late harvest, allowed the Nebbiolo grape to complete its ripening without any stress, enhancing the typical character of each locations, revealing the fascinating diversity of the region characterized by different altitude, positions, exposures, soil and microclimate.

The family started picking Nebbiolo for Barolo on October 13th in the village of Serralunga d’Alba at the Briccolina and Ornato vineyards, usually the earliest sites due to their exposure and soil compoistion. Harvest continued in the other vineyards of Serralunga (Lirano and Serra), in Monforte d’Alba (Mosconi) and in La Morra (Roncaglie), concluding on October 20th in Novello at the Ravera vineyard.

Technical Information

Varietals: 100% Nebbiolo