Cascina Adelaide, Barolo DOCG (Piedmont, Italy) 2016

  This house has risen like a rocket in my estimation during recent years, backing off on oak influence in favor of primary fruit purity and gaining softer texture by shedding some of the wood tannin that marred earlier releases.  I’ve driven by the winery countless times but have never visited, so my entire first sentence here results not from interviewing anyone on the winemaking team, but rather from inference based on the performance of the wines starting about in about 2010 or 2011.  This 2016 Fossati shows marvelously rich, soft fruit with deep, dark flavors that seem like they’d surely go hard in the finish…but never do.  Savory, balsamic aromas are very enticing, and the balance and integration of all the wine’s structural elements is impeccable.  Surely the best Fossati I’ve ever tasted from Cascina Adelaide.