Nicolas Belfrage: Medium-deep, bright. Fresh, berry fruit coming through on the nose; floral hints. Concentrated, flowery, fruity taste, suffers a bit from lowish acidity, which fails to balance the sweetness on finish. Good wine, very correct, but not quite the wow factor. 16

Andrew Jefford: Very dense black-red, though still not opaque. A very woody scent, but qualified by profound fruit to such an extent that you think that, yes, the coupling of wood and fruit works wonderfully well here. After some time in the glass, it can come to seem just a little reedy, but this is a carp; still glorious wine by any world benchmark. Dense, tight, almost stewy wine; very simmered down to its essentials. A kind of dense jus de vin. How do you score this? It is, honestly, a bit tough and challenging, a bit gruff and inarticulate, a bit uncompromising and grouchy, and any debutante drinker would be terrified by something like this. The wood is a bit clunky. Yet if you understand Barolo and have some sense of its strange profundities, this is one of the most compelling wines in the tasting. In the end, I am scoring for my own palate. I would like just a little more gesture toward charm and seduction, a little more grace. 16

Franco Ziliani: Deep, intense ruby color. The bouquet is fresh, elegant, and rich, with a good ripeness of fruit. Spicy notes, great black licorice and leather, a hint of mint and chocolate, roses and earthy notes, very rich and with real finesse. Very broad and harmonious on the palate, full-bodied, great structure and good length, with solid but not aggressive tannins, important. Very young but still good, will surely improve over 10 years. Buy and hold in your cellar! 17.5