Luigi Oddero 'Convento' Barolo

This is the debut vintage of this wine from this traditional, La Morra-based Barolo producer. Typically, the estate sells off most of their grapes in bulk, but in the highly-rated 2016 vintage, Cellarmaster Francesco Verzio (formerly of Bruno Giacosa) made a "second wine."

Convento is vinified and aged just like Oddero's Barolo "Tradizionale": natural fermentation in stainless steel with a 25-day maceration, followed by two years in large Slavonian-oak casks. Verzio has brought a welcome touch of elegance to the Oddero estate's hardline-old-school Barolos, and Convento indeed emphasizes purity of fruit over structure, with a lifted mineral streak of lovely clarity. That said, it is still very much a traditional Barolo, bearing no trace of oak aromatics or wood tannins, and with a perfume simultaneously ethereal and savory.