2018 Altare, E. - Barolo Arborina (750ml)

After more than forty-five vintages at the helm, Elio Altare, grandson of estate founder Giuseppe Altare, has passed leadership of the winery to his daughter Silvia, who continues to shape some of the most sought-after modern expressions of Barolo in Piedmont. The family's home base remains the Annunziata hamlet of La Morra, the same ground where Elio first began experimenting with shorter fermentations and smaller barrels back in the 1970s, setting a template that much of the appellation would later follow.

Arborina is the estate's original cru, a south and southeast-facing amphitheater of vines just below the family house, planted across two parcels dating to 1948 and 1989. The soils here are a mix of marl, clay, and sand, and the fruit is hand-harvested before macerating on its skins for four to five days in temperature-controlled rotary fermenters. The wine then spends twenty-four months aging in French oak barriques, a portion of them new, before release.

The 2018 shows a bright ruby color with garnet tones and a layered nose of ripe cherry, plum, and dried flowers, with hints of cranberry and peach underneath. The palate is radiant and long, built on finely woven tannins and juicy, multidimensional fruit. Try it with a veal chop, wild boar ragù, or aged Toma.