Opening to a dark color and robust consistency, the Poderi Aldo Conterno 2017 Barolo Bussia Romirasco is perhaps the most powerful of the four new releases reviewed here. Wearing broad shoulders and sporting a heavy gait over the palate, the wine sees a solid construction of dark berry and spicy or toasted oak aromas. There is a lot to behold in this bottle, and it definitely shows the potential to soften and relax with more cellar aging. However, you definitely need to put the bottle aside for many years.

This Barolo shows pretty sharpness and focus thanks to its robust layers of mineral and forest fruit. The Poderi Aldo Conterno 2016 Barolo Bussia Romirasco is a layered wine with power and 15% alcohol that you do definitely notice. The wine is fleshy and rich with rum spice and dark fruit, balsam and some end notes of spice, sandalwood and leather. The finish is a little hot, but the wine is ready for 10 years or more of careful cellar aging. Roughly 6,000 bottles were made.

The 2015 Barolo Bussia Romirasco happily shows the exuberant nature of the warm vintage with a joyous and beautifully ripe quality of fruit. This vintage underlines the concept of abundance and texture, although you could correctly conclude that it is less forthcoming in terms of linearity and depth. However, my hunch is that this broader and denser vintage will age just as gracefully over time as the thinner, cooler and more ethereal ones. Dark fruit, smoke, tar and tobacco appear on the finish here. Some 6,000 bottles were produced.

The 2014 Barolo Bussia Romirasco shows the merits of strict fruit selection in a challenging vintage. Only 4,620 bottles were made in order to preserve the highest quality obtainable. This is a complete and generous expression that starts off with a succession of black fruit aromas and continues to lighter notes of anise seed, tar, licorice and blue violet. The mouthfeel offers volume and texture with nicely integrated tannins. "In order to get this quality, fruit selection was key," says Giacomo Conterno.

The stunning 2013 Barolo Bussia Romirasco represents a stylistic blend between the elegance of Monforte d'Alba and the brooding power of Serralunga d'Alba. These are magnesium-rich soils mixed with limestone and clay. Romirasco is also home to some of the estate's oldest vines at 55-years-old on average. This beautiful wine opens to a dark and rich garnet color that comes from the concentrated fruit produced by these old plants. The bouquet is laced with mineral and iodine-like nuances with rust and iron. It comes across as rich and intense and the mouthfeel is slightly softer, but denser overall. The wine ends with long balsam tones of rosemary and dried ginger.