Aldo e Riccardo Seghesio Barolo La Villa

What a beautiful nose, with flowers, licorice, ripe fruit and fresh leather. Full-bodied, with velvety tannins and a wonderful ripeness of fruit, yet this is balanced and structured. Very smooth. The best wine I have ever had from this producer. Best after 2012.

Seghesio is yet another producer who seems to have arrived at a newfound level of elegance. Fermentations have gradually been lengthened and the use of French oak is down from previous vintages. The 2004 Barolo La Villa is notably elegant and restrained for this bottling. It opens with perfumed aromatics that meld into layers of ripe dark fruit intermingled with sweet notes from the French oak. This superbly well-balanced, poised Barolo should be even better with another few years of bottle age. Anticipated maturity: 2011–2022.

Saturated ruby-red. Aromas of blackberry, cassis, licorice and bitter chocolate. Rich, dense and extremely young; a superconcentrated, very modern-style wine that tastes almost like a barrel sample. Deep but youthfully musclebound, this will require at least six or seven years of additional bottle aging to develop its personality.