The 2004 Barolo Riserva Villero is wonderfully alive and nuanced in the glass. This is another wine I have vivid memories of tasting from cask, before Luca Currado had decided to bottle it as a Riserva. Silky and exceptionally polished, the Riserva captures all of the signatures of Villero in its expressive floral and spiced aromatics. Layers of fruit continue to unfold in a dramatic, statuesque Barolo endowed with tons of pure pedigree. Today, the Villero is in a beautiful spot, but it could also use a few more years in bottle to soften a touch further.

Amazing aromas of dried berries, and porcini and mahogany. Full body, with chewy yet refined tannins. Long and powerful. Beautiful. Goes on for minutes. I want to drink it now.

The recently-bottled 2004 Barolo Villero is simply awesome. A vivid, multi-dimensional wine, the Villero emerges from the glass with layers of dark cherries, spices, violets, smoke, minerals, licorice and tar. The level of precision and clarity here is simply mind-boggling. Readers will have to wait until 2011 to get their hands on this gem, but any bottle opened before 2016 (at the very earliest) is likely to be a purely academic exercise. The Villero spent a whopping 46 months in oak, virtually all of it large cask. Anticipated maturity: 2016-2034. AG

Smells enticing, exhibiting notes of cherry and flowers that segue to the sweet spice, floral and tar aromas typical of a mature Barolo. The cherry flavor builds on the palate, backed by a stern structure. A touch austere on the finish now, with excellent potential. BS

Good bright red. Crushed cherry, dried flowers, minerals and menthol on the nose, complicated by spicy oak scents. Extremely tight, dry and penetrating, showing almost painful intensity today in spite of its velvety texture. Classic austere Barolo with a great, slowly mounting, vibrant finish and strong tannins that reach the front teeth. This will need long aging. Luca Currado, who told me that the 1996 bottling of this wine was not yet ready to drink, bottles his Villero as riserva because he feels it needs longer aging in casks than his other three Barolo cru bottlings; if he decides to declassify it, the juice goes into the next vintage of the Castiglione bottling, as the 2005 did.