Ciabot Berton, Barolo (Piedmont, Italy) 2009

This is an intense, aggressively modern wine with lots of oak showing in its youth, but it also shows excellent concentration and depth that enables it to come off as balanced–if rather brooding.  Ripe but not raisiny, with dark toned fruit that is very dense and powerful, this will benefit considerably from five years of ageing, but (like many big 2009s) is already enjoyable with robust food.