WHAT

Nebbiolo

WHEN

2013

WHERE

Cerretta, Serralunga d'Alba, Barolo, Piedmont, Italy

The Germano family has farmed Serralunga d'Alba since 1856, their original family land being a piece of the Cerretta cru — a large south/southwest-facing hill that surrounds the hamlet of the same name. Third-generation Ettore Germano expanded the estate and began making wine in the 1960s; his son Sergio, who took over in 1985 after enology school in Alba, converted the estate fully to certified organic farming and built a range of single-vineyard Barolos that put the family on the international map. The estate's 10 hectares in Serralunga include three prized crus: Cerretta, Prapò, and Lazzarito — all considered Premier Cru equivalent in the Barolo appellation. Sergio still honors his father's name on the label.

The Cerretta is the biggest and most structured of Germano's single-vineyard Barolos — fleshier and darker than the steely Prapò, with the classic Serralunga character of dark cherry, chocolate, sandalwood, tobacco, and a pronounced mineral backbone from the limestone and Helvetian marl soils. The 2013 vintage in Barolo was exceptional — elegant, long-lived, and precise — and this wine has years of development still ahead. Dark, broody, and compelling right now with an hour of decanting; even better in another five years.