Barolo Mosconi DOCG 2018 Pio Cesare

Compared to the Ornato, the 2018 Barolo Mosconi (with fruit from Monforte d'Alba) shows a tighter and more compact quality with a direct, linear and powerful approach. The bouquet builds in vertical intensity, starting with tart fruit aromas and culminating with tar, rusted nail and camphor ash. That aromatic ascent comes at you quickly, and the wine ultimately settles on a very wide, all-encompassing performance.

This is an exquisite 2018, with super-fine tannins that are totally integrated into the wine and spread across the palate. Full-bodied, yet so graceful and linear, with transparency and focus. Drinkable now, but will be so great in 2026 and onwards.

Rich, with plum and cherry aromas, this Barolo also shows a spicy side of eucalyptus, liquorice and clove. Shows viscosity in texture as well as excellent balance. It finishes with dense, refined tannins and lingering notes of macerated fruit and savory.

The 2018 Barolo Mosconi is superb. It offers up a complex mélange of rose petal, dried herbs, iron, graphite, smoke, incense, scorched earth and blood orange, capturing all the complexity that makes the best Barolos from this site so compelling. Powerful and deep, yet also quite elegant, the 2018 is another fine Barolo from an estate that has undergone a pretty significant stylistic shift over the last handful of years.