The 2019 Barolo Rocche di Castiglione is a potent, full-bodied wine. Dried cherry, leather, smoke, tobacco, dried herbs and menthol lend brooding intensity to this decidedly virile, imposing Barolo from Rocche di Castiglione. Dark fruit, iron, sage, mint, red fruit, sweet pipe tobacco and cedar. The 2019 was super-impressive from barrel, but the bottled wine only showed itself with several hours of aeration. It will need years to be at its finest.

Brovia hits it out of the ballpark with this set of wines from the 2019 vintage. The 2019 Barolo Rocche di Castiglione is a darker, broader expression that stands on its own thanks to that special intensity. This expression veers toward dark fruit and black cherry, and there is a lot of iron ore or rusty nail at the back. The wine is almost sanguine in character, but in a manner that enhances all the other beautiful characteristics on hand. The mouthfeel is slightly more open-knit and rich, making this a better pairing partner to hearty meat dishes. Production is 5,000 bottles.

Lustrous and youthful. Balsamic and still very closed. With aeration, wild strawberry with hints of black pepper and mace. Lots of depth even if it doesn’t show everything right now. Great purity of fruit on the palate combined with supple, suave acidity that runs like a vein through the wine. The whole is driven by lots of gravelly tannins. Very long and focused, but not ready by far. (WS)