93 point

The 2017 Barolo Rocche dell'Annunziata is powerful, dense and tightly wound. This is an especially dark, somber wine from a site where Barolos tend to be much more floral and red-toned in their fruit expression. At the same time, the Rocche is less impacted by oak than some of the earlier vintages, which leads me to think all the 2017 needs is time in bottle to unwind. There is a lot here.

Bright, dark red with ruby highlights. Slightly high-toned aromas of red cherry nectar, cassis, blueberry pie, licorice and menthol, plus a whiff of leather. Superconcentrated, dense and powerful, but also very ripe to the point of heaviness, with the youthfully medicinal flavours of strawberry-rhubarb pie, dark berry nectar, black cherry, loam and menthol coating the palate in a thick, rather dull, way. Finishesd long and firmly tannic despite its initial impression of soft creaminess and with very high alcohol-derived heat. This is one of the few Barolos tasted from Trediberri over the years (in fact perhaps the only Barolo) that I have truly not liked, though I am scoring it better than you might think because I know that there are people out there who appreciate this style of wine, and so I want to be fair. But my impressions stand.