Cascina Adelaide, Barolo (Piedmont, Italy) 2015

 My love affair with this house runs hot and cold, and the cold sets in when the fruit is too ripe and the oak too prominent.  No such problems here, though, so we’re back in love.  This shows exactly no excess ripeness on either the nose or palate or finish, and for that matter, there’s no extraneous weight, indicating a truly tasteful winemaking effort in a year that was loaded with temptations to excess.  The oak treatment is commensurately respectful of the beautiful fruit.  In sum, I taste almost all the wines from this estate almost every year, and have purchased more than my share of them, but I can’t remember ever tasting a more suave and stylish wine from Cascina Adelaide.