Pio Cesare Barolo Ornato 2014
-
James
Suckling -
Wine
Spectator - Decanter
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Great structure, concentration, ripe fruit, soft tannins and tobacco. May be appreciated immediately, but with a very long life. Produced in small quantities.
Professional Ratings
-
James Suckling
This is very spicy and fruity one with perfumed and bright aromas. Leather, too. Medium-bodied, refined and layered with beautiful ripe tannins. Fine, polished texture with berry and walnut undertones.
-
Wine Spectator
Tightly wound, offering cherry, plum, wild herb, tar and spice flavors matched to a tensile frame. More savory than fruity, with the finish compact and unyielding today. Best from 2022 through 2035.
-
Decanter
Pio Cesare's top Barolo comes from Ornato in Serralunga. The nose is intense, with ripe, pure raspberry, redcurrant and rose petal aromas. It's very concentrated, yet is sleek and discreet rather than flashy, with firm but not aggressive tannins. It's unusually forward for Serralunga, but has the stuffing to age. Drinking Window 2019 - 2028
Other Vintages
2019-
James
Suckling -
Wine
Enthusiast -
Robert
Parker -
Wine &
Spirits -
Jeb
Dunnuck -
Wine
Spectator
-
James
Suckling -
Wine
Spectator -
Wine &
Spirits -
Robert
Parker
-
James
Suckling -
Wine
Enthusiast - Decanter
-
Robert
Parker -
Wine
Spectator -
Wine &
Spirits
-
James
Suckling -
Robert
Parker - Decanter
-
Jeb
Dunnuck -
Wine
Enthusiast -
Wine
Spectator
-
James
Suckling -
The Somm
Journal -
Wine
Enthusiast -
Jeb
Dunnuck -
Robert
Parker -
Wine
Spectator -
Wine &
Spirits
-
James
Suckling -
Robert
Parker -
Wine
Spectator
-
James
Suckling -
Wine
Spectator -
Robert
Parker
-
James
Suckling -
Wine
Spectator -
Robert
Parker
-
James
Suckling -
Robert
Parker -
Wine
Spectator
-
Robert
Parker -
Wine
Spectator
-
James
Suckling -
Robert
Parker -
Wine
Enthusiast -
Wine
Spectator
-
Wine
Enthusiast -
James
Suckling -
Wine
Spectator
-
Wine
Spectator -
Robert
Parker
-
Wine
Spectator -
Robert
Parker
-
Wine
Spectator -
Robert
Parker
-
Wine
Spectator -
Robert
Parker -
Tasting
Panel -
Wine
Enthusiast
-
Wine
Spectator -
Robert
Parker -
Wine &
Spirits
-
Robert
Parker -
Wine
Enthusiast
-
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.