Figli Luigi Oddero, Barolo Convento 2017 750mL

Convento" is vinified and aged just like Oddero's Barolo "Tradizionale". Natural fermentation in stainless steel with a 25-day maceration, followed by two years in large Slavonian-oak casks. Verzio has brought a welcome touch of elegance and to the Oddero estate's hardline-old-school Barolos, and Convento indeed emphasizes purity of fruit over structure, with a lifted mineral streak of lovely clarity. That said, it is still very much a traditional Barolo, bearing no trace of oak aromatics or wood tannins, and with a perfume simultaneously ethereal and savory. Oddero's Barolo "Convento" is arguably one of the greatest values we have seen come from Barolo in many vintages, and to have this available to us in the heralded 2016 vintage, well that is just a gift.  There were just 400 cases imported for the entire U.S., and we locked up what we could, it was all spoken for before the wine even hit our shores.