Barolo, Sarmassa, 2008

Brooding initially but it soon opens up offering perfumed, smooth, dark hedgerow fruit flavours, bursting with a sweet freshness, a fine combination of liquorice spice and red berries; dense but svelte. Long, echoing sweet, spiced fruit on the finish. Sensational. Sarmassa is on the same hill and has the same exposure to the sun as Cerequio but is just over the border in the Barolo commune as opposed to La Morra. Only bottled up in magnums, a mere 700 magnums have been made.