This traditionally-styled wine is always good, but this vintage may be the best rendition I’ve tasted in a decade. Writing that the aromas are “seductive” is really not engaging in hyperbole, and the flavors and finish all follow suit, melding soft fruit notes with gorgeous savory accents. The wood is subtle almost to a vanishing point, and the seemingly oxidative vinification of the wine works just perfectly with the fruit from this growing season. Only you can know how you most like being seduced, but if you like being whispered to rather than yelled at, this is your wine.
Poderi Colla, Barbaresco (Piedmont, Italy) 2016
By Michael Franz