Domenico Clerico looms very large in the recent history of Barolo (and Piemonte wine generally). He took over for his father at their family farm in 1976, and within a few years expanded the estate and left the practice of selling grapes to the local co-op far behind. In the ensuing years he and a few friends initiated a movement that was, and to some extent  still is, labeled “modern.” There’s more details on that below, but today there is increasingly a detente between the “modern” and “traditional” philosophies, which is perfectly captured with Clerico’s magnificent 2019 Barolo. Though Domenico passed in 2017, today’s wine is one he would be extremely proud of–elegant, balanced, powerful and nuanced, with classic aromas of Monforte d’Alba. It’s an instant classic, but the rub is we got the very last of the vintage so there’s less than five cases available. Don’t miss this testament to Barolo transcendence! 

When Dominico accepted his father’s invitation to take the reins of their small family farm (along with the partnership of his wife Giuliana) he probably didn’t know that he was on the cusp of generational change in Barolo. Along with some other winemaking peers like Enrico Scavino and Elio Altare, they began to build momentum towards what in retrospect was a movement to modernize winemaking in the Langhe. Building and expanding on what Angelo Gaja had started, they saw what was possible in far flung places like Burgundy and California, and realized that with a bit of investment, and a lot of work, they could help make the Nebbiolos of Barolo and Barbaresco into world class wines on par with the very best reds. Fast forward a couple of decades and the success was paramount, but there was also a building chorus of blowback for this modernization and looking backward with romanticism to the “classic” and “traditional” wines of the former era. However, there’s a lot more nuance here than “modern” versus “traditional,” because while maestros like Bartolo Mascarello and Giuseppe Rinaldi were crafting old school masterpieces in the 1970s, many of the other wines were pale, overly tannic, lacking fruit, and loaded with flaws. Domenico and his cohort rejected that Barolo was necessarily “rustic,” and thanks to them the wines are indeed thought of us world class reds of the highest order today.

All that said (and it’s a lot, apologies for the lack of brevity!), there has been growing recognition in the past decade that there is no one proper “recipe” for great Langhe Nebbiolo, and most of the top estates use some combination of traditional and modern philosophies. This 2019 Barolo from the Clerico team illustrates this marriage of past, present and future perfectly. With Giuliana continuing to keep a birds eye view of the entire production, winemaker Oscar Arrivabene uses a combination of gentle, modern extraction, big and small barrels (mostly used now), and a willingness to let nature take its course. The result is a powerfully built, yet elegantly balanced wine that you can enjoy now (with a good, long decant) or cellar for many years to come. 

If you are popping a cork in the next year or two, serve this soaring 2019 (a fantastic vintage) at cellar temperature in large Burgundy stems after a decant of at least an hour or more. With air the intoxicating, textbook aromas will appear: Black and red cherries, crushed strawberries, kirsch, tar, cocoa powder, iron ore, blood orange zest, fennel, mint, and dried porcini. The palate confirms the nose, and the robust, tannic structure is nonetheless silky and mouthcoating, ending in a very long, mineral driven finish. Serve with a classic Barolo beef braise and raise a glass to the star that was, and is, Domenico Clerico.