2016 FIGLI LUIGI ODDERO CONVENTO BAROLO, LA MORRA PIEMONT ITALY

Convento is vinified and aged just like Oddero's Barolo "Tradizionale": natural fermentation in stainless steel with a 25-day maceration, followed by two years in large Slavonian-oak casks. Verzio has brought a welcome touch of elegance and to the Oddero estate's hardline-old-school Barolos, and Convento indeed emphasizes purity of fruit over structure, with a lifted mineral streak of lovely clarity. That said, it is still very much a traditional Barolo, bearing no trace of oak aromatics or wood tannins, and with a perfume simultaneously ethereal and savory.