#5 PRIMA’s ’24 for 24’ Best Wines Of The Year 2023 

You’ve probably already read a lot about vintage 2020 in the Barolo and Barbaresco zones and maybe already had the chance to sample a few. It’s the middle harvest of the stunning triumvirate of harvests that includes the monumental 2021s as well as the effusive 2019s. It’s as unique and diverse a trio of top-quality vintages as I’ve ever seen in 35 years of working with these wines. 2020 finds itself in some tough company from which to stand out, but it might ultimately prove, ultimately, to be the most interesting and classically styled of these three harvests.  As a group, I feel, the 2020s are a pretty sexy, elegant lot- filled with concentrated and nicely delineated fruit that came from a remarkable harvest of thick-skinned, very clean and healthy grapes that created vividly forward, very site-specific aromatics and just a lot of personality in general. These will be crowd-pleasing wines while young, and, most likely, crowd pleasers as they mature too. For me, they offer more volume on the palate and immediate pleasure than the more elegant, slightly coquettish but quite similar 1998s did at this juncture, and the best possess a lot of the same gravitas and noble Old School Barolo structure as vintage 2012. As I’m now almost 67 years old, I personally look for Barolo to actually drink, and this will be a vintage well worth savoring continuously over a good many years. The Odderos have sourced this wine- as per usual- primarily from the now-60-year old Nebbiolo vines in the Bricco Chiesa MGA, the vineyard that slopes up from the Odderos’ driveway in Santa Maria di La Morra and wraps around the Chiesa Santa Maria church at the top of the hill, a virtual monopoly of the family’s. There is also a portion of vines in this cuvee from Capalot. You can see those as you go left around the large curve heading up La Morra hill past the giant red bench in Santa Maria, right under the (highly recommended) Eremo di Gasprina restaurant and inn. The final touch comes from the two hectares the Odderos farm in the Fiasco MGA in Castiglione Falletto- the same Fiacso as the famed Scavino (Paolo and Azelia) parcels abutting Villero and Brunella. Is there also a soupcon of the Odderos’ newest-addition vineyard Monvigliero from Verduno in there? I won’t tell! These are consistently great sources that have historically play well together in the hands of winemaker Cristina Oddero and longtime enologist Luca Vegio to create Barolos of intensity, vibrancy, elegance and seriousness.  Tasting the Oddero 2020 Barolo Classico at the cantina last fall, we noted that it is an assemblage that is truly greater than the sum of its parts- a complete, complex, serious and extraordinarily well balanced wine that promises a very long life. There is a whiff of Fiasco’s exotic cinnamon sugar in there alongside the camphor, warm baking spices, black truffle and bitter chocolate one usually finds in the Oddero Classico. Not as introverted and tannic as the 2019 was at this stage of its life, we wonder if this will ever close down as tight as that is starting to. This is a classic Barolo to enjoy even now if you want, but certainly it’ll be really hitting its true stride at a decade or more past the harvest. So many reasons to like 2020 and they’re all here in this bottling. By the way, we’re pleased the Odderos have not only held their pricing but, as we pass their pre-arrival price along, it’s $7 a bottle less than the 2019! Certainly worth a half-case wouldn’t you think? 60 bottles to sell.

*By the way, we still have some 2020 Oddero crus, Rocche di Castiglione, Brunate, Villero and the debut of the much-anticipated Monvigliero available.. These are extraordinary! If you’d like to see the offer, let me know.

Monica Larner, Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate: 'Coming in hot off some truly excellent past releases, the Oddero 2020 Barolo has a pretty mineral content with pencil shaving, crushed stone and wet soil that meets forest berry and underbrush. The wine hits on all cylinders, and there is good aromatic balance. It delivers a punch of bright fruit and crushed rose that gives way to pulverized stone. For a base Barolo, this is one of your best buying options. Fruit is blended from Bricco Chiesa and Capalot in La Morra and Fiasco in Castiglione Falletto. 94 points

Antonio Galloni, Vinous: "The 2020 Barolo is a pretty powerful wine in this peer group. Accordingly, it is going to need a few years to come into its own. Macerated cherry, licorice, lavender, cedar and sweet pipe tobacco emerge gradually, but only with great reluctance. Hints of rose petal, mint and cinnamon linger. 91 points