"Go North Young Man" - The Last Bottles of List Favorite Danilo Quazzolo's Single Vineyard Wines

 Danilo Quazzolo

 - If I Could Make Wine and Had Land In Barbaresco, I'd Make Wines Like This

 - 70, 80 Year Old Vines

 - The Added Density from Hand Selection

 - As Dense as Grand Cru Burgundy Made from Nebbiolo

 - Stunning Fruit Yet Incredible Balance

 - Incredible Acidity from Very Northern Vines

 - The Mad Genius of An Artist Winemaker

 - There Is Nothing Like These Wines in the Langhe. Nothing.

 - A Teeny 2 Hectares of Pure Mad Genius

 - I'm So Early on This, It's Not Even Funny

 - Easily Top 20 in Barbaresco, Maybe Top 10 or Higher

 - His Cool, Northern Vineyards Allow Him to Make Fresh Wines Across Vintages

2018 Quazzolo Barbaresco Ovello

 - I Had the 2014 Produttori Ovello and This Beats It Silly

 - The Last Bottles of the Vintage

 - Unlike Any Wine I've Had from Piedmont

 - Should Cost $100+ - It Will Some Day

 - One of The Coolest Sites in Barbaresco

 - Nose: Density of Grand Cru Burgundy

 - Classic Rose, Tar, Chestnuts and Spice

 - Soaring Spice and Cherries

 - Cherry Flower and Gorgeous Licorice

 - Palate: An Absolute Show Stopper

 - Incredible Density Paired with Laser-Like Acidity

 - Perfect, Intense Cherry Fruit, Cherry Licorice 

 - Terrific Spice up the Absolute Yin Yang

 - Some Interwoven Chocolate

 - Terrific Juiciness and Inner Mouth Aromas

 - Finish: Incredibly Intense Spice

 - Like a High Pressure Hose Blasting Cherries at Your Palate

 - Drinking Beautifully Now

- Will Last 5-10 Years Plus (But No One Can Keep Their Hands off These)   

 - For $39.99 on a Case, This Is the Steal of the Year from Piedmont

Terroir Matters - As Does Skill and Hard Work

We have not heard much about the 2018 vintage in the Langhe because the 2018 Barolos have not been heavily reviewed yet. And because VinItaly was canceled, I didn't get a chance to taste a ton of them. But list favorite Danilo Quazzolo did his usual stunning job with the vintage.

These are the last bottles he has left and I need to sell them today.

Danilo's vineyards (Cole and Ovello) are around the town of Barbaresco. Many think of
Barbaresco as being this giant blob but there are distinct areas with their own micro climates. And as you can see from this official map, Cole and Ovello are among the most Northern vineyards in Barbaresco. Also, Danilo selects his bunches by hand to ensure maximum freshness and fruit density.

Danilo is always able to produce bright fruit, even as temperatures rise across Italy.

His style is precise, juicy fruit that almost boggles the mind. It's the reason he's becoming a list favorite.

The Wine

The first wine is the 2018 Quazzolo Barbaresco Ovello for $40.99 a bottle on a 4 pack purchase and $39.99 on a 12 bottle case.  This is simply stunning and unlike anything I've had in Piedmont. It comes from one of the coolest sites in Barbaresco. It has the density of Grand Cru Burgundy but combined with laser-like acidity. it is NOT a wine with big jammy fruit like a Shiraz. The nose is classic - rose, tar, chestnuts and spice. Soaring spice and cherries. Cigar, mint, tobacco and menthol leaf, white pepper and mint soar out of the glass after the appropriate amount of time. Cherry flower as well and gorgeous licorice.

The palate is an absolute show stopper. About as dense as any wine I've ever had. Cherry fruit, cherry licorice on the palate. The density and intensity of the cherries is really off the charts. Terrific spice up the absolute yin yang. Remarkable acidity and fresh fruit juiciness. Some terrific chocolate intertwines with the cherries. Terrific juiciness and inner mouth aromas and intense sweetness and voluminous fruit yet with all that this is so so fresh. Incredible mid palate and insane crushing fruit and velvety tannins. The palate impact is almost like someone fired cherry licorice into your mouth with a high pressure hose - it absolutely stains the palate beyond belief.

The finish is this incredibly intense spice; long, long, long. Wow. The wine is absolutely brooding. It's a joy to drink young and it is incredible today.

Aged in tonneaux.

The Winery

The winemaker is Danilo Quazzolo. His grandfather started the estate and his uncle continued his work. Danilo learned at his feet and took over in 2013. He used the same traditional techniques as his grandfather and uncle but changed things a bit. Danilo is an actual visual artist whose favorite painter is Jackson Pollock. He uses a squiggle to make his art, much like the pointalists used dots. His labels, which are very cool, all have this squiggle motif.

2018 Vintage

"the 2018 Barbarescos are ready now, they will hold up for at least half a decade and probably more."

"The town of Barbaresco stood out," - Walter Speller, Jancis Robinson

I'm always cautious about vintage notes because they encompass wines across a huge number of styles and microclimates. I've had good vintages that killed solid winemakers in one style and bad vintages where winemakers of another style shined. Italy is particularly challenging because many of the winemakers do the same thing every year no matter the weather conditions. Better winemakers tend to make good wines in most or all years. This is especially true for winemakers that have cooler climate vineyards like Quazzolo. His 2018s are a bit more open and ready to drink at this point than the 2016s.

The ever savvy Walter Speller also liked the Barbarescos from the more Notown of Barbaresco.

2018 Quazzolo Barbaresco Ovello - $42.99

($163.96 4-Pack, $479.88 12 bottle case {$39.99!})