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The 2016 Barolo Bricco Ambrogio is very pretty in 2016. Medium in body and supple, the Bricco Ambrogio captures all of the personality of the year in a mid-weight style that makes it easy to drink and enjoy young. The balance of fruit, acid and structure is just superb here. Pretty floral and spice overtones add nuance. Bricco Ambrogio is always the most accessible of the Scavino cru Barolos. The 2016 is the finest wine from this site yet.

Vivid ruby. Expansive red and blue fruit preserve, tobacco, potpourri, spice and botanical herb aromas, with vanilla and smoky mineral notes emerging as the wine opens up. Sappy, penetrating and gently chewy on the palate, offering vibrant, mineral- and spice-accented black raspberry, bitter cherry and rose pastille flavors that deepen and turn sweeter on the back half. Shows sharp focus and floral lift on the impressively long, youthfully tannic finish, which leaves behind notes of candied blue fruits and spicecake.

The 2016 Barbaresco Riserva Muncagota continues this tasting of frankly awe-inspiring wines. Rich, deep and super-expressive, the 2016 hits all the right notes. Black cherry, plum, spice, leather, licorice emerge, but only with great reluctance. The Muncagota is another wine in this range that clearly needs time.

Prunotto’s 2016 Barolo Bussia is an attractive wine. Crushed flowers, sweet red berry fruit, mint, pine and cinnamon lend aromatic brilliance to an understated, classy Barolo that speaks to finesse more than anything else. This is an especially airy style, but there is plenty of resonance to the 2016. The Bussia is very pretty in 2016. Drink it over the next 15-20 years.

The 2016 Barbaresco Riserva Rio Sordo is a serious, somber wine. Black cherry, plum, lavender, spice and menthol show off the darker side of Nebbiolo to great effect. In most vintages, Rio Sordo is an easygoing wine, but not in 2016. Readers will find a potent, brooding yet mid-weight Barbaresco that screams with character. What a way to start this tasting!

The 2020 Pinot Noir La Colline du Château is from two blocks on the lower part of the Schlossberg Grand Cru, on granite, from 50-60-year-old vines. This was made with 50% whole bunches and spent two years in just 20% of new oak. A reasonably deep color points to some sumptuousness. The nose holds red and black berries and some notions of mocha. The palate is fresher yet brimming with ripe red, juicy cherry; this is very 2020. The tannins are ripe, velvety and smooth, but they also provide some structure and freshness to counter some alcoholic power. The finish is bone-dry and has a beautiful, streamlined focus. (Bone-dry)

The 2016 Barolo Pajana is ample, powerful and resonant, with terrific body and a real sense of expansiveness that builds with time in the glass. Sweet spice, citrus and floral overtones add brightness to this attractive, mid-weight Barolo. The 2016 is deep and yet also tannic. I would prefer to cellar it for at least a few years.

The 2016 Barolo Cerequio is a big, powerful wine. Chiarlo has chosen to bring out a bit more power and density than Cerequio seems naturally predisposed to, but it all works well. Black cherry, spice, leather, licorice and menthol all flesh out with some coaxing. The new oak tannins are pushed to the maximum, but it all works.

The 2016 Barolo Mosconi is a gorgeous wine made all the more remarkable given that Mosconi can't really be said to be a top-level site. Dark and imposing, the 2016 captures all the breadth and tannic clout that are such signatures of this site. This is an especially brooding, virile Barolo, but Chiara and Giorgio Boschis clearly brought out all the best the vineyard had to give.

There’s so much to love about the 2019 Saint-Joseph Vignes de l'Hospice. Prominent menthol, pencil shavings, blackberry compote, delicate wood smoke and crushed violets enter the stage. Sexy and polished, the 2019 sports excellent flavor concentration and wraps it all up in a resonant finale. Give it another two years in bottle.

Scavino’s 2016 Barolo Ravera is another highlight in this range. Tense, brilliant and finely sculpted, the 2016 has so much going on. Crushed flowers, iron, mint and cedar add beguiling aromatic breadth to a core of translucent, intense Nebbiolo fruit. The 2016 really captures the energy that makes wines from this site so distinctive. The 2016 was fermented in stainless steel and aged entirely in cask.