1998 Barolo Ornato

Cesare's single vineyard 1998 Barolo Ornato (from a Serralunga vineyard) offers an explosive perfume of sweet black cherries intermixed with blackberries, new saddle leather, smoke, and vanilla. It possesses outstanding purity, full body, fine density, and a boatload of tannin. However, the glycerin, extract, and concentration are more than adequate to balance out the wine's muscle. Anticipated maturity: 2007-2025. Wine Advocate.October, 2001

(bottled in June of this year) Bright, dark ruby-red. Sappy, spicy, superripe nose combines cherry, tar, meat, maple syrup and dark chocolate. Rich, lush and extremely ripe; much more filled in than the normale, conveying an impression of lower acidity. Very broad, full and sweet, but still a bit monolithic. Best today on the sweet, very long finish, which throws off hints of licorice, spices, caramel and leather. This will almost certainly merit a higher score as it absorbs its baby fat and shows more detail.