Held back for an extra year before its release, the Beni di Batasiolo 2017 Barolo Boscareto is a near-term wine for sure and a slightly disjointed effort made with the especially robust fruit we associate with Serralunga d'Alba. I can taste the hot vintage in the wine's broad texture and granular tannins. It also comes through on the bouquet with dark plum and cherry liqueur. Fruit is sourced across an impressive 16 hectares of Nebbiolo vineyards with south-facing exposures, and production is an ample 13,000 bottles.

Beni di Batasiolo makes two top-end single-vineyard Baroli, and the 2016 Barolo Boscareto is one of those. This wine sees fruit from Serralunga d'Alba and therefore represents the bolder and more powerful of the two. But in all honesty, the differences are minimal, especially in a vintage such as 2016 that so successfully brings out the purity of the fruit across all vineyard sites. I do notice a shorter or less profound mouthfeel in wines from this estate. The results taste over-cropped, with less intensity. Production is 2,250 cases (with six bottles each).

The 2015 Barolo Boscareto shows a loosely knit texture with soft fruit packed tight at the core. The Boscareto cru delivers a dense and powerful quality of fruit in this warm vintage. This wine is aged in botte grande only. Some 13,000 bottles were produced.

The 2014 Barolo Boscareto, with 13,000 bottles produced, is a steady wine with some faded fruit aromas. Although it does not totally lack dimension, it is not particularly vibrant either: This vintage does not possess the inner energy of its predecessors. What it does offer are bright fruit colors and understated aromas of dried berry, licorice, autumnal leaf and other earthy tones.

Released six years after the harvest, the 2011 Barolo Boscareto offers a good sense of dimension and depth. This wine benefits from longer cellar aging and reveals more complexity and interesting aromatic detailing as a result. The bouquet peels back in delicate layers with wild berry, dried cherry, menthol notes and cherry cola. The effect is ethereal and bright. Tobacco and tar give the wine a heavier and more robust finish