2016 Barolo Ravera Arnaldo Rivera

A juicy and tannic Barolo, yet the tannins are soft and rounded with plenty of ripe strawberry and cherry character. It's full-bodied with lots of richness and length. Meat and walnuts to the dried fruit. Give it two or three years to soften.

The Arnaldo Rivera 2016 Barolo Ravera is actually a blend of fruit from six vineyards located within the cru, planted at various stages from 1963 to 1968, 1970, 1991, 1992, 1997 and 1999 to 2002. The winemaking approach is the same as the other single-vineyard wines in this series, which see 32 months of aging in tonneaux and botte grande. The bouquet offers dark fruit and savory spice with tilled earth and cardamom pod. The Ravera also shows a meaty tone with bresaola or cured ham, but this is only a very light accent. The mouthfeel is tight and linear, with dusty tannins on the close. Some 5,600 bottles will hit the market in September 2020. This is one of my favorites in the series.

Arnaldo Rivera is a new line of cru-designate Barolo from the large Terre del Barolo co-operative. The Ravera bottling hails from six different plots within this Novello subzone, all of which are south-facing at an average altitude of 400 metres. It leads with some toasty oak nuances that make way for mint, pepper and strawberry. The palate is silky and elegant with tight, emphatic tannins that will need another year or so. Nice depth, tension and a mouth-cleansing quality.