My first tasting of the 2020 Barolo Monfortino at the estate from barrel, it’s an upfront red offering a lot of immediate charm and an elegant personality, with a sweetly perfumed nose that boasts fresh, poppy fruits of black raspberries, wet stone, and purple flowers. While medium-bodied, it has a rounded and saturating feel, with a youthful, rounded, fruity mid-palate that gently tapers through the finish. Compared to the more chiseled 2019, the 2020 offers a lovely contrast and promises a lot of finesse from this first preview. (AF)

This sample was tasted from barrel and will not go into bottle until late in 2025. The Giacomo Conterno 2020 Barolo Riserva Monfortino is a beautiful wine, already head and shoulders above most of the other wines I tasted from this vintage. It offers fine definition with wild rose, tea leaf, rusty nail and crushed stone. The tannins are refined, despite the wines young age, but you also get fruit-driven volume and richness over broad texture. The 2020 vintage is Francia fruit with 15% blended from Arione. (ML)

The 2020 Barolo Riserva Monfortino is a hedonistic turn-on. Silky and pliant, with captivating purity, the 2020 is a total delight. Bright acids drive through a core of vibrant red-toned fruit. Sage, lavender, rose petal and chalk are some of the notes that develop over time. The 2020 has the gorgeous inner perfume and sweetness that is such a signature of warmer years, a quality that can make young Monfortino so seductive right out of the gate. Polished, silky tannins frame the long, resonant finish. Barolo at its sexiest. (AG)