2017 Gianfranco Alessandria Barolo San Giovanni

A release of 5,000 bottles, the Gianfranco Alessandria 2017 Barolo San Giovanni shows another side of the house style, greeting you with a bigger personality and broader shoulders. The wine carries its weight well, with ample fruit, spice, tar, smoke and lingering touches of crushed stone or rusty nail. The oak signature is slightly more impressed or embossed over the bouquet, but this expression finds good unity on the palate. The 2017 vintage has tougher tannins all around, but even these are woven successfully into the greater fiber of this cru from Monforte d'Alba. This will be a great Barolo to taste on its own or with a prestigious cut of steak.

The 2017 Barolo San Giovanni has more concentration of aromas with pine, licorice, and raspberry leather. Likewise, the palate has more depth of structure, with firm tannins and a core of cherry fruit and turned earth. Drink 2023-2036. Located in Monforte d’Alba, Gianfranco Alessandria has 5.5 hectares of vineyards and rents an additional hectare. They practice short fermentation and maceration in temperature controlled stainless steel, and aging is carried out in small French oak barrels.

The 2017 Barolo San Giovanni is an attractive wine, but in this vintage it is not markedly different from the straight Barolo. Whether that is the year or a stylistic change is hard to discern given that 2017 is an unusual vintage because of severe heat and drought. Succulent dark cherry, spice, leather and rose petal are some of the notes that open with a bit of time in the glass. What is evident is that in 2017, the San Giovanni is a bit lighter than normal, while the French oak imprint is also less incisive, both of which may turn out to be positives