Ceretto Barolo Brunate 2019

Ceretto farm five and a half hectares in the celebrated Brunate vineyard, straddling La Morra and Barolo in Piedmont. The site sits on the paler calcareous marls of the Tortonian soils on the western side of the zone, which tend to give Barolo more perfume and finer tannins than the heavier soils to the east. Nebbiolo is late ripening and thick skinned, high in both tannin and acidity, and Brunate's exposure and elevation give the long hang time the grape needs. The wine is aged twenty-four months in oak, where slow oxygen exchange softens the tannins and settles the wine before bottling, in line with the DOCG rules. The colour is the pale garnet typical of the grape, with a nose of dried rose, red cherry, tar, truffle and leather. The palate is full and structured, high in acidity with the grippy tannin that lets Barolo age for decades, closing long and savoury. Serve at 17 to 18 degrees and decant an hour ahead, in a large glass. It calls for rich meat, from braised beef to game.