Offers depth and power, with menthol and wild herbs shading cherry and plum flavors. The balance tips toward the tannins in the end, yet this doesn't feel overly astringent, just more structured than many wines of the vintage. Picks up a mineral element as this lingers on the finish. Needs time. Best from 2025 through 2043. 2,167 cases made.??–BS??Region: Italy / Piedmont / Barolo Select to Add

Of the three Barolo samples I tasted from barrel (including Arione and Cerretta, which are also from Serralunga d'Alba), the Giacomo Conterno 2018 Barolo Francia was the furthest behind and the hardest to pin down at this stage in its infancy. I have opened my range of scores accordingly to compensate for the magical unknowns that are likely to occur as the wine moves toward greater harmony and integration before its commercial release. The wine is linear and pointedly focused, lacking the width and volume it will gain when given more time to flesh out and relax. The aromas are also quite primary and simple at this point, with dark cherry and even a hint of ripe strawberry ceding gradually to grilled herb, blue flower and baked brick. This vintage of Barolo Francia will require patience.

I tasted the Giacomo Conterno 2017 Barolo Francia shortly before bottling. Like Roberto Conterno's other wines from this controversial vintage, this wine shines with brilliant and unexpected purity and intensity that is harder to find in its peers. It shows a deep understanding of the potential of a warm growing season, and the Nebbiolo is supple, velvety and uncharacteristically exuberant (for a grape whose elegance starts famously with understatement). Francia in Serralunga d'Alba evokes power and profound depth, with black and purple fruit highlights, rusty nail, crème de cassis, grilled rosemary and reddish rock or baked terracotta. The wine carries its considerable fruit weight with grace, and at the end of the day, it offers a complete portrait of vintage, variety and vintner.

Roberto Conterno did not make his flagship wine, Monfortino, in 2016 or 2017, leaving all Francia fruit headed to his single-vineyard bottling instead. The Giacomo Conterno 2016 Barolo Francia is a rich and tightly knit wine with harder edges (certainly compared to the 2017) and a compact inner core of blackcurrant, licorice, smoky tar, violet and rusty nail. In fact, those pretty mineral nuances are very developed in this bottling and already show with clarity at this early stage in the wine's evolution. They add etched concentration and a sense of austerity to this very elegant and age-worthy vintage. This wine should not be opened before the 10-year mark, at a minimum.

A rich, plum- and cherry-laced red, aligned with a sumptuous texture, lively acidity and refined tannins. Though dense, this remains light-footed and beautifully integrated. Bass notes of tar, soy, iron and tobacco add depth and complexity as this winds down on the finish. Best from 2023 through 2050. 1,166 cases made.??–BS??Region: Italy / Piedmont / Barolo Select to Add