Ceretto Barolo Bussia 2016 750ml

Description

This is the second vintage created after Ceretto started farming in Monforte d’Alba. Specifically, the 2016 Barolo Bussia sees fruit sourced from Bussia Soprana, one of the various subdivisions of the larger Bussia cru. I loved the inaugural 2015 vintage, and my initial impression of 2016 evokes that same excitement. This is a worthy addition to the Ceretto portfolio; it’s a wine that offers enormous silkiness and textural finesse. Those beautiful Nebbiolo aromas are all there—the wild cherry, licorice and rust—but I am particularly impressed by the soft elegance of the mouthfeel, which gives equal space to fruity sweetness, acidity and structure. It’s not as long as the outstanding Bricco Rocche (from Castiglione Falletto), but almost.

• Country: Italy
• Region: Piedmont
• Appellation: Barolo
• Size: 750ml
• Color: Red

Varietal

Nebbiolo

The Nebbiolo grape varietal is widely understood to be the fruit responsible for Italy’s finest aged wines. However, its popularity and reliability as a grape which gives out outstanding flavors and aromas has led it to be planted in many countries around the world, with much success. These purple grapes are distinguishable by the fact that they take on a milky dust as they begin to reach maturity, leading many to claim that this is the reason for their unusual name, which means ‘fog’ in Italian. Nebbiolo grapes produce wines which have a wide range of beautiful and fascinating flavors, the most common of which are rich, dark and complex, such as violet, truffle, tobacco and prunes. They are generally aged for many years to balance out their characteristics, as their natural tannin levels tend to be very high.