Domenico Clerico, Barolo Briccotto, 2008

Domenico Clerico's revived Bussia cru bottling, in a classical vintage. Briccotto is a parcel in Bussia (Monforte) that Clerico had folded into his Nebbiolo-based Arte for years; in 2008 he reintroduced it as a single-vineyard Barolo, bottled only in magnum from that vintage. Clerico, who passed in 2017, was a defining modernist pioneer; longtime collaborator/winemaker Oscar Arrivabene and Clerico's widow Giuliana carry the estate forward. The 2008 vintage is classical Piedmont — structured, perfumed, balanced — and now firmly in its drinking window. Eighteen years on, expect a wine of real depth and textural richness, with the smoke, tar, espresso, and licorice that the Briccotto site delivers in spades, framed by tannins that have softened without losing their grip.