Barbaresco Riserva Boito, Cantina Rizzi 2015

As I mentioned last year in my note on the 2013 Vigna Boito, this is the bottling from the two hectare filet section of the Rizzi Cru, with this parcel sitting up at the top of the ridge and facing south and southwest. The elevage of the Vigna Boito is a full two years in older Botti, as opposed to one year in Botti and eight months in cement vats, which all the other Crus here age in at Cantina Rizzi. The 2015 Vigna Boito Riserva is an outstanding example of the vintage, coming in at 14.5 percent alcohol and offering up a deep, soil-driven and sappy nose of red and black cherries, gorgeous spice tones, a bit of smoked meat, bonfire, dark soil tones, licorice, a hint of road tar, cedar and a topnote of red curry. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied, ripe and sappy at the core, with excellent soil signature, ripe, chewy tannins, excellent focus and grip and a long, complex and very well-balanced finish. I do not have any information on how old the Botti are that this bottling is raised in, but I get the sense that they are not all that old, as the wine shows a bit of oak influence on both the nose and palate, despite the large size of the vessels that the Vigna Boito is aged in. This is a young wine that needs plenty of bottle age, but it should be outstanding once it is ready to drink. 2035-2085.