Comm. G.B. Burlotto Barolo 2018 750ml

Fabio Alessandria on his 2018s: the 2017 may last longer, but the 2018 will be ready to drink within ten years. Wine Enthusiast scored this bottling 97.

The 2018 growing season in the Langhe began with a February freeze down to minus seven or eight degrees and then turned wet. Speaking to Decanter for its 2018 vintage report, Alessandria counted 22 to 23 days of rain in May and said July was warm but still rainy. With water always available, his vines took up potassium, tartaric acid fell and pH rose; he saw very good tannin maturity and integration, and judged the 2018s very tasty but shorter-lived than the 2017s. Antonio Galloni (Vinous, February 2022) adds that Alessandria chose to acidify the musts to offset their low natural acidity, and that this Barolo spent 21 to 22 months in cask, roughly a year less than usual, because the wine was ready early. Galloni calls the estate's 2018 Barolos among the highlights of a very tricky year.

The wine itself follows the old Verduno habit of blending parcels rather than bottling one cru. Galloni describes the classico as built on a core of Breri, with pieces of the other sites that do not go into the Acclivi. The estate's sheet lists Breri at 0.77 hectares facing south, below 240 metres, with Neirane and the east-facing Rocche Olmo and Boscatto plots at 370 metres, all Guyot-trained on calcareous marl of the Cassano Spinola formation. Fruit is picked by hand into 20 kg crates, destemmed and moved by gravity into open French oak vats, with a light pump-over and punch-down each day under temperature control; malolactic fermentation takes place in large French oak casks. The sheet opens with Adolf Loos's line that ornament is a crime and files this wine under the word classic. The estate's homepage puts it more plainly: the same description could have been written in 1850.

In the glass

Kerin O'Keefe (Wine Enthusiast, issue of 1 September 2022, 97 points, tasted blind) finds blue flower, perfumed berry, balsamic herb and sandalwood on the nose, then juicy red cherry, raspberry compote, licorice and almost salty mineral notes on a palate held by refined tannins and bright acidity. Galloni (Vinous, February 2022) calls the 2018 aromatic, gracious and light on its feet, with sweet dark cherry, lavender, rose petal, mint, spice and sage drawn in an ethereal, mid-weight frame.

When to open

O'Keefe gives 2024 to 2033 and Vinous 2023 to 2033; Alessandria himself expects the 2018 to be at its best within ten years of the vintage. The estate advises 16 to 18 °C.

At the table

Our suggestion: roast guinea fowl, or agnolotti del plin in sage butter.

Quick facts

Provenance

Sourced from the Japanese importer.

Sources: Comm. G.B. Burlotto (website and Barolo tech sheet); Decanter (A. Fiordelli, Barolo 2018 vintage report); Vinous (A. Galloni), note text as shown by Berry Bros. & Rudd; Wine Enthusiast (K. O'Keefe)