Pio Cesare Barbaresco Il Bricco di Treiso DOCG 2019

Pio Cesare have been making wines in their ancient cellars in central Alba for 141 years, from their vineyards based primarily in Barolo and Barbaresco. Today, fifth generation Federica Boffa with her cousin Cesare Benvenuto lead this prestigious estate, after the untimely passing of Pio Boffa in 2021 after 40 years as the face of Pio Cesare. The winegrowing is sustainable and the winemaking largely traditional resulting in wines of great elegance, structure and purity.

The Pio Cesare family’s unique winemaking method stresses minimal intervention to produce wines of particularly supple flavour expression. A ceaseless devotion to the individuality of each of the region’s wines informs Pio Cesare's choices in the cellar: shorter maceration, separate lot fermentation, judicious selection for barrel and large cask aging, and bottling schedules determined by the ideal structure of each wine. This allows Pio Cesare to craft wines of varying weight, ageability and drinkability as determined by the vineyard rather than market fashion.

This wine is a single-vineyard Barbaresco using very ripe grapes from several plots in the famous Il Bricco estate owned by the Pio Cesare family. While soils in surrounding villages are sandy, the Il Bricco vineyard is primarily composed of limestone and clay. In the Piemontese dialect, Il Bricco translates to "peak of the hill." Reaching 400 meters above sea level, this estate is characterized by cool weather and important diurnal swings—both favourable conditions for the ripening of the Nebbiolo grape. The Nebbiolo harvest began mid- October, and immediately showed all the hallmarks of a ‘classic’ year – excellent tannin ripeness and balance, foretelling wines of structure with great aging potential. Fermentation takes place in stainless steel tanks, with 15 days of skin contact. This wine ages in French oak for 30 months: 70 percent in new barriques and 30 percent in 20-hectoliter casks. It is produced in small quantities and only in excellent vintages.

A traditional vintage delivering fresh fruits and beautiful aromas, with great structure and complexity, intense colour and a balanced acidity, with sharp tannins but already approachable - all the classic components of the great outstanding vintages of Barbaresco.

A solid and powerful Barbaresco with fantastic depth of fruit and layers of tannins. Full and so deep and focused, with great length and structure. Bark, berry, mineral and deep terroir and gravitas. Try after 2027. - James Suckling, 97 Points. Top 100 Wines of 2022.