Tasted at the Ottoman restaurant in Canberra. A brilliant Barolo from Conterno from the splendid 2004 vintage. It is showing a fair bit of oak on the nose although there is plenty of fruit to back it up. But those aromatics are just packed full of well-defined fruit. The palate is beautifully balanced with svelte tannins, so silky smooth, so lithe in the mouth you cannot possibly resist its charms. It just gets better and better in the glass. (ST) 94+

There’s more thickness and extraction here thanks to a sophisticated use of oak. You can taste the wood tones in the form of vanilla, tobacco and spice. Overall, this wine exhibits a bold, immediate style that is immensely seductive and tasty. Drink the wine after 2015 and pair it with important meat dishes.

Plum, ripe berries and hints of chocolate. Full-bodied, with velvety tannins and lots of ripe fruit, with spices and hints of raisin. The Conternos decided to make this single-vineyard wine because the crop of the Cicala vineyard was destroyed by hail in 2004. So you won't see Cicala or Granbussia Riserva in 2004. Just this and Colonnello. (JS)