Fontanafredda, Barolo DOCG (Piedmont, Italy) 2016

 Yet another very impressive “sub-cru-level” Barolo designated as “Del Comune di Serralunga d’Alba,” this is one of the potentially best bargains from a great vintage.  Fontanafredda has amazing vineyards in Serralunga, but also buys some fruit from other growers in the village and bottle in 750s, full liter bottles, and magnums that are very attractively priced and fairly widely available across the USA.  In 2016, this shows lots of interesting little nuances on the nose as well as the palate, but the star of the show is the fruit, which is absolutely exemplary in its purity.  With this pure fruit at its core, and the structural components of acidity, tannin and wood all showing excellent proportionality, this is poised to just get better and better as it develops additional complexities in bottle over time.  That’s a key difference in this vintage by comparison to 2010:  You don’t need to wait for this to change or for any of its components to settle down or diminish… it is already beautiful and will only get better.