Nicolas Belfrage: Medium-deep color, turning. Surprisingly appley, fresh fruit-salady nose. Subtle wine of modest attack, which then opens out in the mouth and finishes on a fresh, floral note of elegance rather than power. Drinking soon for a number of years. 89

Bruno Besa: Transparent garnet to tawny. Restrained and refined Nebbiolo nose with small red fruits, menthol, Bing cherries, and hints of minerals. Sweet fruit and fragrant acidity. Long, complex, mineral finish. A classic Barolo of considerable pedigree. 94

Andrew Jefford: Clear garnet with some bricking. Typically gentle, stealthy, cat-like Verduno aromas, creeping up on you as if you had hardly realized you were sniffing a wine, and then suddenly you sense that you are somewhere else on earth, aromatically speaking, from the place where you thought you were. Creamy, refined, your neighbor’s coffee: lovely. Soft, grasping, mouth-filling, supersecondary but utterly commanding. Difficult and none at all of the easy sensual charm of some of the plusher wines in this tasting, but this refined and secondary wine has a huge amount to offer the drinker who is prepared to stop, listen, be Zen. Entrancing Verduno; very villageois. 2011 a good vintage to take the time to taste-visit Verduno, since the overall vintage comfort makes these wines a little less difficult than usual. 94