Ceretto : Brunate 2018

A dense, firmly structured red, with black cherry and plum fruit buried beneath tar, menthol and tobacco flavors. Fresh and energetic, ending with grainy tannins and a lightly chewy feel. Best from 2025 through 2042. 150 cases imported.

Sweet red fruit on the nose and palate, together with a sandy mineral note. Medium-to full-bodied with very fine, lightly firm tannins and a clean, focused finish. More delicate character in 2018. Best from 2024.

This 2018 Ceretto Barolo Brunate shows notes of fresh earth, wild flowers, spice and cream. It is soft and round with a fairly velvety texture, but it lacks some mid-palate concentration and there is a slight green note to the fruit. There are plenty of fine-textured tannins that are firm yet refined in nature. This wine has a powerful structure but also perhaps reflects the wet spring of 2018 in its cooler, greener, just-ripe red fruit flavors. Wait one to two years for the tannins to come around. Structurally, it will last at least 20 years.

Forest floor, toasted notes, coconut and a whiff of iris form the delicate nose. Lithe and rather light on its feet, the linear palate suggests red currant, dried herb and fennel seed alongside dusty, drying tannins and nervous acidity.