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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.

The 2016 Barolo Vigneto Garretti is bold, racy and super-expressive. Succulent dark cherry, lavender, spice, menthol, red flowers, licorice, and French oak all meld together in this creamy, racy wine from La Spinetta. The Garretti captures all of the richness and pedigree of the year in a forward, succulent style that is sure to find many admirers. This is an especially strong vintage for this wine, though it needs another year in bottle for the big tannins to soften. I won't be surprised if the 2016 turns out to be even better than this note suggests; today it is absolutely delicious.

The 2016 Barbaresco Riserva Pora is a brooding wine, its mid-weight structure notwithstanding. Iron, smoke, tobacco, cedar and dried flowers add a feral, earthy quality that is so appealing. Pora is often one of the more approachable Riservas in this range, but the 2016 is an exception. Readers should be prepared to cellar it for at least a few years.

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.

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 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 2018 Valpolicella Classico Superiore pulls the taster close to the glass with a darkly alluring blend of dried roses, violets, crushed stone, clove and blood orange. It washes across the palate with silken textures, lifted and finessed in the style of the vintage, as ripe wildberry fruits swirl beneath an air of sweet lavender. The word ethereal comes to mind as the 2018 tapers off with sweet tannins that provide a lovely framework to perfumed inner florals and hints of blackberry that resonate.

The 2019 Barolo Bric del Fiasc is a gorgeous wine in the making. Deep, fleshy and wonderfully nuanced, the 2019 offers up an exotic mélange of kirsch, pomegranate, baking spice and a kick of new oak. Often quite the tannic beast, in 2019, the Bric del Fiasc is impeccable in its balance. The rich, substantial finish is a thing of beauty. Best of all, the 2019 should drink well relatively early for this wine.

The 2020 Léoville Barton has a very concentrated and opulent bouquet with lavish blueberry and bilberry fruit and a veneer of new oak that will be subsumed in the near future. The palate is medium-bodied with succulent, ripe tannins. Cedar and touches of baking powder infuse the layered red fruit, segueing into a spicy, persistent finish. Classy. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting.