PIO CESARE BAROLO DOCG 2019

This historic family-owned estate is named after its founder Cesare Pio, who established the business in 1881. The winery is based in Alba, in the heart of Piemonte and is now run by Federica Boffa and Cesare Benvenuto, the fifth generation of the family. Pio Cesare developed Barolo’s reputation overseas in the 1950s by being one of the first producers to export the wine to the UK. The founder’s great grandson Pio Boffa was deeply convinced of the importance of cultivating and growing owned land to produce high quality wines and played a key role in the acquisition of vineyards in the same locations where Cesare Pio used to buy his grapes from. Today Pio Cesare owns 70 hectares in the hills of Barolo and Barbaresco and makes wines in a style that manages to balance the best of the old with the best of the new. The estate includes most of the municipalities in the Barolo and Barbaresco areas.

Vineyard

The grapes are sourced from family-owned vineyards in Serralunga d’Alba (Ornato), Grinzane Cavour (Gustava), La Morra (Roncaglie), Barolo Novello (Ravera), and Monforte d’Alba (Mosconi).

Winemakers Highlights

Vinification takes place in stainless steel tanks, with skin contact for about 20 days. The wine is aged in mid-toasted French oak for three years: 70 percent in 20 to 50 hectoliter casks; 30 percent in barriques.

The 2019 vintage, thanks to good weather conditions across a long growing season with no major temperature peaks and good water reserves in the soil allowed the Nebbiolo grapes to achieve perfect ripening without any stress, and to express the typical features of each vineyard, and revealing the great diversity that characterises every vineyard within the Pio Cesare estate.

A very cold and dry winter was followed by high rainfall in March and April ensuring abundant water reserves in the soil. May was characterised by unstable weather and cooler than average temperatures, leading to a delay in the vegetative growth of about 15 days compared to recent years, in line, however, with a more traditional trend for the Langhe region. The summer was warm with isolated heat peaks during late June and July and intense but not damaging thunderstorms in the second half of July and August. The final part of the summer was marked by mild temperatures with sporadic rainfall and significant temperature fluctuations at night, particularly favourable for the perfect ripening of the grapes. The weather was then very stable and sunny until harvest with sporadic rainfall and cool night temperatures that allowed Nebbiolo to achieve gradual perfect ripeining. The Nebbiolo harvest started on 13th October.

The 2019 vintage has a very traditional character, with wines that show great structure but retain great fruit concentration and floral character at the same time, along with balanced acidity, soft tannin and extraordinary aromatic complexity, all typical characteristics of great Barolo vintages.

Food Pairing

Ideal with steak tartar, truffle, porcini dishes, duck, guinea fowl, veal, braised beef, cheese.

Serving Suggestion
Serve at 16-18°C.

Press

94 points Wine enthusiast – Editor’s choice

"The historic house of Pio Cesare is making some of its best wines today. This classic highlights the purity of Nebbiolo with lifted tart red fruit notes combined with sweet and savory spices followed by subtle notes of flowers and earth. Sour cherry flavors define the palate with gentle tannins, savoury herbs and a vibrant finish. Drink now–2035 (Jeff Porter)."

96 points Susan Hulme MW

"The 2019 Pio Cesare Barolo has a very immediate and appealing nose…it has a beautiful, melting texture and super refined, perfectly ripe tannins. It is a classic Barolo in the old tradition of blending grapes from several different vineyard sites, in this case, three vineyards in Serralunga (Ornato, La Serra and Briccolina) as well as sites in La Morra, Grinzane Cavour, Novello and Monforte.  Among the sweet red fruit and spice is a little twist of iron and a distinctive mineral note which evokes the Ornato vineyard and adds an extra dimension. This 2019 Barolo has such an appealing, outgoing and charming personality but also the power to last. I particularly like the transformation that has taken place with the tannins –  they now glide gracefully across the palate.”