2016 Vietti "Villero" Barolo Riserva

The 2016 Barolo Riserva Villero is a dense, packed wine. Black cherry, plum, licorice, leather and incense add to an impression of brooding, virile intensity. Readers will have to be patient, as the 2016 clearly needs time. Even so, my belief remains what it has always been—that Villero is not the best vineyard in the Vietti range. That is even more apparent today, given the new sites that have been added to the range. The logic of making the estate's Riserva, theoretically the estate's top wine, from this site has always escaped me. That is more true today than ever, given the elite sites Vietti has added to their range in recent years.

Deep, lustrous ruby with orange tinges. Still very youthful and tight on the nose while showing great purity of fruit. Perfumed and focused raspberry fruit with succulent acidity and rich, ripe tannins. A thoroughbred kind of wine and just beginning to open up. (WS)