2018 Oddero Convento Barolo

In most years this portion of the estate fruit is sold off but when truly exceptional as was the case in 2018, they bottle under their own label. They named it “Convento”—a nod to the fact that their estate was a convent in the early 17th c. It is vinified and aged just like their Barolo “Tradizionale”: natural fermentation in stainless steel with a 25-day maceration, followed by two years in large Slavonian-oak casks. Convento emphasizes purity of fruit over structure, with a lifted mineral streak of lovely clarity. That said, it is still very much a traditional Barolo in the style of Oddero, bearing no trace of oak aromatics or wood tannins, and with a perfume simultaneously ethereal and savory.