2009 Renato Ratti Barolo Marcenasco, DOCG, Piedmont

90 pts - Antonio Galloni The 2009 Barolo Marcenasco bursts from the glass with juicy dark cherries, French oak, menthol, sweet spices and licorice. An exuberant Barolo, the 2009 is textbook for the year, which is to say it is ripe, open and inviting. Ideally, the 2009 could use another 6-12 months for the French oak to integrate a little further, but it should provide fairly immediate drinking over the next decade or so. I am not sure the 2009 has the density of fruit to stand up to the French oak, and some hints of greenness remain today, so it will be interesting to see if the wine finds a little better balance with more time in bottle. Last tasted Apr 2012; Drink now - 2020