Pio Cesare Barolo Mosconi 2018
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Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Supple, ripe and complex with soft tannins. May be appreciated immediately, but with a very long life.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This is an exquisite 2018, with super-fine tannins that are totally integrated into the wine and spread across the palate. Full-bodied, yet so graceful and linear, with transparency and focus.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Compared to the Ornato, the 2018 Barolo Mosconi (with fruit from Monforte d'Alba) shows a tighter and more compact quality with a direct, linear and powerful approach. The bouquet builds in vertical intensity, starting with tart fruit aromas and culminating with tar, rusted nail and camphor ash. That aromatic ascent comes at you quickly, and the wine ultimately settles on a very wide, all-encompassing performance.
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Wine Spectator
Rich, with plum and cherry flavors, this Barolo also shows a savory side of eucalyptus, licorice and clove. Reveals viscosity to the texture as well as terrific balance. Ends with dense, refined tannins and lingering steeped fruit and savory notes. Best from 2025 through 2042.
Other Vintages
2019-
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Wine &
Spirits
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James
Suckling -
Robert
Parker -
Jeb
Dunnuck -
Wine
Enthusiast
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James
Suckling -
The Somm
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Jeb
Dunnuck -
Wine
Spectator
Pio Cesare has been producing wine for more than 100 years and through generations. The tradition began in 1881, when Pio Cesare started gathering grapes in his vineyards and purchasing those of some selected and reliable farmers in the hills of Barolo and Barbaresco districts.
At Pio Cesare, there has always been a conviction that great wine can come only from the finest grapes and the winery's output has always been limited through adherence to the highest standards. Pio Cesare limits its production by using only the most mature and healthy grapes. The ripening of the grapes is carefully monitored and the harvest is rigidly controlled with each grape selected by hand.
Today, the estate is managed by Pio Boffa, great-grandson of Pio Cesare. Under his stewardship, the wines of Pio Cesare have become famous throughout the world. Great strides have been made in quality, and single vineyard offerings have dazzled the wine press.
Responsible for some of the most elegant and age-worthy wines in the world, Nebbiolo, named for the ubiquitous autumnal fog (called nebbia in Italian), is the star variety of northern Italy’s Piedmont region. Grown throughout the area, as well as in the neighboring Valle d’Aosta and Valtellina, it reaches its highest potential in the Piedmontese villages of Barolo, Barbaresco and Roero. Outside of Italy, growers are still very much in the experimentation stage but some success has been achieved in parts of California. Somm Secret—If you’re new to Nebbiolo, start with a charming, wallet-friendly, early-drinking Langhe Nebbiolo or Nebbiolo d'Alba.
The center of the production of the world’s most exclusive and age-worthy red wines made from Nebbiolo, the Barolo wine region includes five core townships: La Morra, Monforte d’Alba, Serralunga d’Alba, Castiglione Falletto and the Barolo village itself, as well as a few outlying villages. The landscape of Barolo, characterized by prominent and castle-topped hills, is full of history and romance centered on the Nebbiolo grape. Its wines, with the signature “tar and roses” aromas, have a deceptively light garnet color but full presence on the palate and plenty of tannins and acidity. In a well-made Barolo wine, one can expect to find complexity and good evolution with notes of, for example, strawberry, cherry, plum, leather, truffle, anise, fresh and dried herbs, tobacco and violets.
There are two predominant soil types here, which distinguish Barolo from the lesser surrounding areas. Compact and fertile Tortonian sandy marls define the vineyards farthest west and at higher elevations. Typically the Barolo wines coming from this side, from La Morra and Barolo, can be approachable relatively early on in their evolution and represent the “feminine” side of Barolo, often closer in style to Barbaresco with elegant perfume and fresh fruit.
On the eastern side of the Barolo wine region, Helvetian soils of compressed sandstone and chalks are less fertile, producing wines with intense body, power and structured tannins. This more “masculine” style comes from Monforte d’Alba and Serralunga d’Alba. The township of Castiglione Falletto covers a spine with both soil types.
The best Barolo wines need 10-15 years before they are ready to drink, and can further age for several decades.