Palladino, Barolo (Piedmont, Italy) 2010

I have never visited this producer nor met anyone associated with the company, and consequently have no particular opinion of anything associated with it.  I note that merely to emphasize how deeply impressed I was with all three of the 2010 Barolo bottlings that I tasted blind in May of 2014.  The straight, non-cru-designated Del Comune di Serralunga D’Alba bottling is terrific; the single-site “Ornato” is even better, and this wine from Parafada is downright sensational.  Very dark and impressive in appearance, it shows very deep aromas and wonderfully assertive fruit that pushes any wood influence very far offstage.  There’s just a faint whiff of heat in the finish, but I couldn’t bring myself to fault the wine on this count after multiple tastes.  In style, this is a bit of an outlier for the vintage, being more ripe and powerful and intense than most of the top wines of the year, but it is eye-poppingly impressive.