2014 Renato Ratti Barolo Conca DOCG, Piedmont

This is a re-taste of a review published several months ago that I left without an official score. The 2014 Barolo Conca is fragrant and enormously floral with whiffs of garden rose, pressed violet and white truffle. In fact, I am very happy I came back to this bottle because it is just singing now with a clear and harmonious voice. Like the other wines from this vintage, the wine shows a delicate, almost fragile state that adds to its overall elegance and accessible appeal.

93 points Monica Larner robertparker.com May 2019 Drink 2020 - 2033

The 2014 Renato Ratti Barolo Conca DOCG is a beautiful and expressive Barolo that captures the elegance of La Morra in a cooler, more classical vintage. Conca is one of La Morra’s most celebrated crus, a natural amphitheatre of calcareous marl and fine clay that gives Nebbiolo its trademark perfume, silky tannins and luminous red fruit. It is a site known for producing some of the most refined and aromatic Barolos in Piedmont.

Renato Ratti was one of the great pioneers of modern Barolo, the first to map the region’s crus and bottle single vineyard wines. Today the estate is run by Pietro Ratti, who continues his father’s vision of combining traditional Piedmontese values with precision and clarity. The wines are always about place first, and Conca is one of their jewels.

The 2014 vintage was cooler and more restrained, favouring finesse, freshness and aromatic detail over sheer power. In the glass, this Barolo shows rose petal, wild strawberry and red cherry, layered with anise, dried herbs, tobacco and subtle earthy notes. The palate is elegant and finely structured, with bright acidity and polished tannins carrying the wine through a long, mineral driven finish.

This is a wonderful wine for the table. Braised veal, roast pork, mushroom and truffle dishes, or rich pasta sauces all bring out its complexity and harmony. It is a wine that rewards slow, attentive drinking.

The 2014 Renato Ratti Barolo Conca is drinking beautifully now with decanting, but it will continue to evolve for another twenty to thirty years, gaining savoury, truffle and forest floor complexity with time. It is a graceful, classical Barolo that shows the beauty of La Morra in a cooler vintage.