2017 Barolo Mosconi Vigna Ped Conterno Fantino

Plenty of red fruit and tar here with bark and mushroom as well. It’s full-bodied, yet tight and polished on the palate. Tight finish. Tar and burnt citrus to the fruit in the aftertaste. One of the best wines from here in years, this needs some bottle age to open and soften. Try after 2026.

Among the 27 hectares of Conterno Fantino is Vigna Ped, an east-facing cru within the Mosconi MGA. Similar to Ginestra, in 2017 it seems to be a bit rounder and less austere. The wine undergoes malolactic fermentation naturally in the spring. It displays intense leafy lightness with wild strawberry puree and liquorice root, but also whiffs of truffle and cocoa powder. The attack is firm and assertive, with both acidity and tannins - which are large, grainy and ripe. The structure is well balanced by fruit concentration, vibrancy and complexity. Despite its meatiness, it's not ready to drink yet. For the long haul.

The 2017 Barolo Mosconi Vigna Ped is deep, resonant and expansive, as wines from this site tend to be. In this tasting, the Mosconi is wonderfully deep. Its stature alone is compelling. And yet there is so much to the Mosconi. Readers will find a Barolo that melds together a rich, racy expression of fruit with plenty of structure that wraps everything together. Rich red fruit, blood orange, tar, spice and cedar build as the 2017 gains volume through to the finish.

The 2017 Barolo Mosconi Vigna Ped sources its fruit from a small vineyard plot measuring less than one hectare that is composed of sand, silt and clay soils. This special wine shows dark fruit with cherry and blackcurrant, all followed by spice, tar and earth. The hot and dry growing conditions in 2017 make for extra intensity and concentration, with firm tannins that hold it all together. The cooling altitudes at 360 to 380 meters above sea level and the general conditions of Monteforte d'Alba mean that this wine shows good integration.