A concentrated mouthful of caramel, almond, chocolate, molasses and orange peel mark this dessert white, which packs a punch along with its sweetness. Bracing acidity and a walnut skin bitterness offset the viscosity and sugar deftly, allowing this to play out gracefully on the finish. Trebbiano and San Colombano. Drink now through 2040. 220 cases made, 31 cases imported.

The 2018 Barolo Brunate is a deep, layered wine that is going to need at least a few years to come together. Today, the Brunate is quite primary and backward, but all the ingredients are there. Sage, menthol, licorice, dried flowers and spice build with a bit of coaxing.

The 2018 Barolos are absolutely beautiful.

Readers will note the addition of two new wines that have been thrilling since the first day I tasted them. The first is from a choice parcel in Cerequio Vietti acquired from Michele Chiarlo.T

he 2018 Barolo Cerequio is a new wine in this range. Soaring aromatics and bright, red-toned fruit give the Cerequio its effusive personality. Nuanced and deep, with tremendous complexity and tons of character, the Cerequio is dazzling. This is everything a great Barolo from Cerequio should be. In other words: textbook. More over, it's one of the best wines of this very uneven vintage.

Here's an exciting new submission from Vietti. The 2018 Barolo Cerequio is lovely, sporting a broad and enriched bouquet that paints a panoramic vision of this MGA that straddles the villages of La Morra and Barolo. Despite that wide vision, this wine also excels at showing pinpoint details of wild cherry, crushed stone and black licorice. Cerequio is a wine of latitude and depth. Tight tannins help to stitch it together into a comprehensive whole. Only 4,925 bottles were made in this inaugural release. Congratulations.

Wow. Incredible purity and transparency with cherries, bark, mushroom, flower and slate/stone on the nose. Full-bodied yet agile and fresh with a fine tannin structure that runs the length of the wine and goes on forever. The polish, elegance and grace is breathtaking. Power with agility. A revelation for the 2016 vintage in Brunello. Drink in 2024 and onwards but wonderful to taste now.

The 2021 Rosato Montepulciano Kómaros wafts up to show dusty rose, sweet melon and minty herbs. This impresses, with its soft textures contrasted by a reverberation of zesty acids and sour citrus tones; yet through it all, a vivid note of ripe yellow apple resides at its core. The 2021 Kómaros tapers off with tension, leaving behind mineral-tinged orchard fruits and a hint of blood orange. Garofoli knocked it out of the park with this Montepulciano Rosato.

Vietti is one of a handful of estates to bring the Ravera MGA of Novello to the current popularity it enjoys now. Their 2018 Barolo Ravera has a smoky personality with crushed stone and pencil shavings. There is plenty of dark fruit at the back, ripe cherry and blackberry mostly, and the wine is tonic and firm in terms of its structure and tannins. The Ravera is a wine of enormous length and a finely tuned texture. Exactly 7,560 bottles were made.