Olivero Mario Bricco Rocca Barolo

Deep garnet with the orange rim Nebbiolo earns, spice and oak woven through cherry-in-spirit and rose; full and austere in youth, with violet and marasca underneath. It can hold fifteen years or more, but hits its stride seven or eight years past the vintage. After harvest, the grapes are given a long maceration and twenty-four months in French oak.

Lorenzo Olivero started the estate with his father in 2003 after studying viticulture in Turin, acquiring fifteen acres on the credo "produce a little, but do it well." The Barolo comes from one small vineyard — half planted in 1953, half in 2001 — worked as non-invasively as possible, with green manure in place of fertilizer.

Food pairing: Braised beef in Barolo, wild mushroom risotto, truffle anything, or a slab of aged Castelmagno.