Nicolas Belfrage: Quite deep. Notes of plum and raisin: Christmassy. A welcome injection of sweet plummy fruit in the mouth, quite forward and drinking now. Very definitely the “Porty” finish. 16.5

Bruno Besa: Deep garnet core to pink, tawny rim. Open nose of small black fruits, with great minerality and open spicy character. Full body, with fierce tannins yet well balanced by the sweet black fruit and long floral finish. 17.5

Andrew Jefford: Deep, dark, and somber black red. Complex and articulate aromas: dark black fruits, indeed sweet black fruits, but paradoxically there is also a slightly vegetal, peapod note in here. Maybe this will clear and resolve in some other direction; honestly I’m not sure, since nothing else in the aroma suggests any sort of unripeness. Indeed, quite the opposite—there is almost a citrus-grove exoticism here. On the palate, it is a very up-front Barolo, with lots of dark, serious black fruit but a slight lack of drag and persistence into the back palate. A huge amount here, though, even if stylistically I have one or two reservations. 13