Cavallotto Riserva Vignolo Barolo 2019

5 CASES. I repeat… only SIXTY bottles available of an infatuating, scintillatingly elegant Riserva Barolo with 100 POINTS bestowed upon it – plus 98, 97, double 96, and 95+ points too. Anyway, what are you doing here? Get to the cart, friend!  

The Cavallotto family has owned their Tenuta Bricco Boschis estate since 1928, and in 1946 became the first growers in Castiglione Falletto to vinify all of their estate's own fruit… a radical, quality-first act of independence at a time when most sold their grapes off to négociants. Two years later, in 1948, they released the first bottling under the now-iconic Cavallotto label and registered trademark. Today the estate is run by the fourth generation – Laura, Giuseppe, and Alfio – who farm the land with the same conviction as their great-grandparents.

While the estate's fame rests largely on the great Bricco Boschis hill – a cru that Cavallotto owns in its entirety, prized for its southern exposure, altitude, and complex limestone and clay soils – this bottling comes from their other treasured cru, Vignolo. Sitting just next door to Bricco Boschis and a touch lower on the slope, Vignolo tends to produce a wine that is a little less powerful and more floral, drinking beautifully on a slightly earlier timeline. Its sandier soils lend an ethereal, perfumed lift of star anise, rose petal, and dried potpourri that make it unmistakably its own wine.

“The best Cavallotto Vignolo Riserva I've had to date, the 2019 is staggeringly stunning…” –Kerin O’Keefe, 100 Points

Furthermore, it's a Riserva, meaning some extra aging time before release. The fruit is drawn from a tiny 1.96-hectare parcel of roughly 40-year-old vines, then aged an extraordinary 60 months in large 20-, 30-, and 50-hectoliter Slavonian oak casks. The estate is certified organic, and 2019 was a warm vintage that gave this wine gorgeous texture and concentration.

Upon tasting, we can only describe it as utterly hypnotic. From the first swirl, the glass fills with a luxurious perfume – crushed dried roses and violets tangled up with wild cherry, a pop of tar, and sweet baking spices. On the palate, it's grand elegance layered over serious power, with ripe Morello cherry and macerated red plum giving way to blood orange peel, licorice root, and a savory dunk of forest floor and truffle. The tannins are fine and beautifully polished, framed by bright, mouthwatering acidity – seriously gorgeous right now with a decant but will absolutely stand the test of time cellared. Only 60 bottles available of this 100-point treasure… do what you must!

FOOD PAIRINGS: Brasato al Barolo (classic braised beef in Barolo) makes all the sense in the world here… but you might want to pick a different Barolo to do the braising and save this one to drink.