The 2008 Barolo Riserva Vecchie Viti dei Capalot e delle Brunate (magnum) is dark, brooding and super-expressive. Dark red fruit, mocha, leather, licorice and spices meld together in this imposing, intense Barolo. As always, this is the darkest of the Voerzio Baroli. Sweet, balsamic notes wrap around the finish. Anticipated maturity: 2023-2033. These wines from Roberto and Davide Voerzio represent a significant turning point stylistically. This is the first year in which most of the Baroli were aged partly in cask and partly in barrel, the same approach the estate used for its early wines, up to and including the 1993 vintage. The 2008s spent their first year in equal parts cask and barrique, and a second year in French oak barrels, just 20% new, a major change over the recent past. The exceptions are the Baroli Voerzio bottled only in magnums (Sarmassa and Vecchie Viti dei Capalot e delle Brunate), which were aged exclusively in French oak because of the tiny quantities of those wines. Roberto Voerzio describes 2008 as a year that was cold from start to finish. The wines are huge, tannic and likely to require quite a bit of patience. With time, though, the pedigree of the great Barolo vineyards simply can’t be denied. The best of Voerzio’s 2008s are pure magic. A Leonardo Lo Cascio Selection, Winebow, Montvale, NJ; tel. (201) 445-0620

Also tasted in a magnum, the 2008 Barolo Riserva Vecchie Viti dei Capalot e delle Brunate is an extraordinary wine that delivers warm tones of baked brick, moist earth, white truffle and autumnal leaf. The wine opens with an inky dark appearance and shows solid structure at the back. Anticipated maturity: 2016-2030. The wines of Roberto and Davide Voerzio offer a fitting conclusion to this tasting of Piedmont’s best red wines. These are stunning wines that capture, head on, the beauty of the 2009 vintage. They remind us of the dazzling heights achieved by the Nebbiolo grape. Importer: Winebow, Pinebrook, NJ; tel. (201) 445-0620