Case E di Mirafiore Barolo Lazzarito 2019

Double 96 points and primed to blow your ever-loving mind! This is a spell-binding Barolo, from the eminently elegant Lazzarito vineyard, in the heart of the Serralunga d’Alba, and one that is featured prominently in all the top Italian restaurants and shops – even in the sangiovese-mad Firenze, Toscana! There’s no higher praise, and we’re thrilled to have a meager ten cases of this tippy-top Piemonte!

Casa E. di Mirafiore goes back all the way to 1878 – a Piemonte institution that has found a new birth and life in the past couple of decades after dominating the northern Italian market for nearly 50 years. A nearly 70-year hibernation – from the 1930s to this most recent century followed – but the fantastic estate vineyards that makeup Mirafiore endured, could not be silent forever, and this remarkable plot in Lazzarito shines brightest of all.

Lazzarito is a wonderful natural amphitheater in the beating heart of Serralunga d’Alba, facing southwest, at over a thousand feet in elevation, on the pristine Miocene-Helvetian sediment that was once the ocean floor. These calcareous marl soils, grey-ish white and loaded with minerals, make for high-toned, highly aromatic, and deeply sensual expressions of Barolo – where power is enrobed in a lush and delicate exterior – making for wines that show young and last almost forever (can you ask for more in Barolo?).

Aged exclusively in large barrels, the wine is both refined and traditional, revealing nebbiolo and the terroir – without the veneer of heavily wooded influence. Red fruits such as cherries, raspberries, plums, and red currants are the happy result, with accents of wild herbs, tobacco, and a mineral-laden undercurrent buttressing the fruit-forward core. The layers and complexity are undeniable, but the harmony here is what makes this exceptional – everything is integrated, and softly presented, with the just-right balance of spice and earth to make this all sing in the here and now – yet simultaneously whisper that the best is yet to come. Our only wish is that we had more to share – as this is surely a gem in the collection of any great Italian cellar – and one that is equally en vogue atop any dinner table too!

PAIRING IDEAS: I’m matching this with one of the culinary revelations of my life – a simple baked potato, opened down the middle for surgery, and smothered with a cacio pepe-esque cream made from the starchy cooking water and plenty of pecorino and pepper. Finish it with a soft-cooked egg, and if you dare – a generous shaving of truffles. The result is the epitome of pauper-turned-prince presentations...and a perfect match for this beauty!