Paolo Manzone, Barolo (Piedmont, Italy) 2011

I chose to visit this (energetic, engaging and innovative) producer in 2016 based on how well his 2011 wines showed in the 2015 Nebbiolo Prima tastings.  The cru offering from Meirame is more firmly structured and will probably surpass this at some point, but for pure pleasure and also on grounds of value, I’ll be buying this from the 2011 vintage and save some money for the Meirame from 2012 (which is fabulous).  Rich and very powerful but also admirably pure and focused, this offers all of the muscle one would expect from a Serralunga wine in a warm year, but also shows more composure and class than virtually all of its village counterparts.