No doubt about it, 2013 is another very serious year in Piedmont. Whether Barolo or Barbaresco, or indeed further afield, I have tried so many wines over the past year and have tasted very few disappointments. It’s a cracking vintage for Barbera, Dolchetto, and of course Nebbiolo.

Generally speaking, a cool, wet spring delayed the growing season and lowered overall yields. A cool summer ripened the grapes slowly, but in areas where the rain stayed away through autumn, growers could pick ripe, balanced fruit.

This Nebbiolo from Giacosa speaks volumes for the quality of the estate and the vintage. There is such beautifully seductive, lifted, perfume of dried rose petals, violets, potpourri, graphite, aniseed root and black cherry and earthy red fruits. The palate too is dense, sweetly fruited and nuanced with layers of spicy liquorice, pithy red cherry, red apple skins, granitic minerality and a long, kirsch laden finish. I’ve drunk many DOCG Barolos that don’t have either the depth of fruit nor structure of this mere Langhe Nebbiolo. Whatever political problems the Giacosa estate has experienced over the past years, when they get it right, the results are compelling!

(Wine Safari Score: 93/100 Greg Sherwood MW)