Domenico Clerico : Percristina 2011

A very special, late release of just 2,300 bottles, the Domenico Clerico 2011 Barolo Percristina is stunning. If you can get your hands on a bottle, you will be rewarded with impressive finesse and the kind of tiny detailing that can only come to Nebbiolo after a decade of oak and bottle aging. Old vines in the Mosconi cru supply the fruit for this wine, with notes of dried cherry, crushed flowers, spice, tar and licorice. This was a hot and not always easy vintage, but the Clerico crew has pulled out the very best of that vintage with robust, concentrated fruit and all its inner elegance intact.

Sun-kissed hay, rose, cherry, berry and earth flavors mark this taut, linear red. Compact and lightly astringent on the finish, with a lingering impression of ripe fruit. Best from 2024 through 2037. 209 cases made, 90 cases imported.

Intense aromas of licorice, plums and dried fruit lead into a full-bodied palate with rich, round tannins that are very chewy yet polished, giving this wine strength and shape. Very long and rich. Tar on the finish. Beautiful now but it could still benefit from a couple of years of bottle age.