A solid Barolo with firm yet velvety tannins and plenty of strawberry, orange peel and floral character. Cranberry. Medium to full body. Juicy tannins and a flavorful finish. Tight at the end. So juicy with lovely clarity of fruit and solid tannins. Better after 2029 and beyond.

Lots of rose petal notes here with pure fruit like raspberries and fresh strawberries. Full and powerful with lots of tannins yet the core of fruit is fresh and beautiful. It’s not overly chewy or aggressive. It shows purity and focus. A fantastic wine. Drink after 2029.

The Roberto Voerzio 2012 Barolo Brunate is a stunning expression with layered complexity and finesse. The wine shows a lively garnet-ruby color with a balanced and intense bouquet. You'll recognize tar, cigar ash, grilled herb and cured leather with lots of dark fruit at the core. Those fruit tones recall black currant and plum. The quality of those primary aromas is tight and powerful, but not aggressive. This wine promises a long aging future as those fine tannins become even silkier.

Opening to a dark garnet color, the 2010 Barolo Brunate exhibits a great deal of focus and clarity that is further reinforced by the mineral character of the wine. Dark fruit, balsam herb, cola, spice and black tar peel off in generous layers. Like all of Voerzio’s wines this vintage, the Brunate shows a steady firmness of structure that is uncommon in 2010 (his plant density is a whopping 7,000 vines per hectare, a strong factor in terms of mouthfeel). Drink: 2017-2035. Roberto Voerzio started buying prized vineyard parcels in 1982 and has since amassed one of the most important portfolios of single-vineyards (15 parcels over totaling 12 hectares) in La Morra (with Sarmassa and a piece of Cerequio in the neighboring township of Barolo). He follows a unique winemaking philosophy that is somewhere on the spectrum between traditionalists and modernist, but Roberto himself brushes off these broad stroke categories with a shrug and a smile. “In the years between 2003 and 2007, my approach to oak changed over and over. I went from larger containers to smaller ones and back again to larger,” he says: “Ultimately no one really noticed. What is noticeable however is his non-interventionist’s approach. He uses ambient years without sulfites for the fermentations followed by spontaneous malolactic fermentations and does not filter. He also chooses different bottle formats to represent each wine (with a generous array of large format bottles) and sells them in meticulously numbered lots. Fossati was latest acquisition with 20 and 30 years vines. Importer: Winebow, www.winebow.com

There's depth and richness to this cherry-, leather- and tobacco-tinged red, but the dense, assertive tannins dominate for now. Shows good balance overall, but needs time or a braised meat dish to really shine. Best from 2016 through 2030. 266 cases made.??–BS??Region: Italy / Piedmont / Barolo Select to Add