2018 Barolo & Piedmont Vintage

A long winter with plenty of rainfall restored the soil's water supply after the previous year, with temperatures lower than in recent years and winter lasting until the beginning of March. An arctic descent in February sent Langhe temperatures down to -7 to -8C, and Edmondo Bonelli, viticultural consultant to the Consorzio Albeisa producer association, put the dried buds seen early in the season down to that frost. The vines woke gradually and slowly, and bud break was regular, with none of the problems caused by late frosts. Spring stayed wet, with frequent rainfall and temperatures that were not high. Between the end of May and the beginning of June, numerous storms brought copious rain, and fungal disease was recorded wherever growers could not intervene in time. GB Burlotto in Verduno had 22 to 23 days of rainfall in May. May and June showers in Barbaresco and Barolo left organic growers at risk of fungal disease. Flowering and berry set were regular and took place in optimal conditions. Summer development was gradual, with temperatures rising considerably from mid-July and a long spell of constant fine weather, though July was warm and it still rained. Across Piedmont as a whole it was a rainy year, with July and August heat peaking well above 35 degrees. Downy mildew and localised hail posed problems for some producers, including hail in Serralunga, and hail storms damaged Nebbiolo vineyards in Barbaresco. September weather was good for the vines, and Nebbiolo was ripe as per tradition in early October, with picking taking around three weeks in all. 2018 was a plentiful vintage that needed green harvesting for nearly all varieties, but Nebbiolo yields were limited, with few clusters in parts of some vineyards, attributed to the abnormal heat of the previous year when fruit buds were differentiating. Across Piedmont, wine production was just over 2.5 million hectolitres, up about 30 percent on 2017.

Picking began in September with grapes for sparkling wine and continued with the other white varieties until around 20 September. Dolcetto was the first red variety picked, with average sugar and acidity lower than in recent vintages, though must pH was as usual. High daytime temperatures in late August and early September broke down malic acid, while tartaric acid, formed early in the season when lower temperatures helped its synthesis, held at a good concentration, and the same pattern showed in the later-ripening reds. Barbera was in a good state of health, with some disparity between vineyards driven mainly by yields. In both the Barolo and Barbaresco growing areas, sugars rose over the last part of the season and phenolic ripening accelerated, bringing the harvest in with excellent parameters. Decanter's Aldo Fiordelli wrote that 2018 was quite consistent with vintages harvested around 4 to 5 October, a week earlier than the second week of the month that is regarded as ideal. Azelia's Cerretta, the last of the Scavino family's MGAs to be harvested, was picked on 20 October.

Decanter's Aldo Fiordelli found that La Morra and Barolo recovered well compared with 2017, Monforte performed very impressively in both vintages, and Serralunga suffered a bit more in 2018 than in 2017. Serralunga was also hit by hail. In Barbaresco, hail storms damaged the Nebbiolo vineyards, and May and June showers in both Barbaresco and Barolo left organic growers at risk of fungal disease. Across Piedmont, Vignaioli Piemontesi rated Nebbiolo from the Langhe and Roero at four and a half stars, close to excellent, alongside Pelaverga di Verduno and Cortese from the Gavi zone, with Barbera on four stars.

Decanter's Aldo Fiordelli found village-level Barolo of variable quality, with many wines excessively dilute, while the best show sweet tannins, concentration and a degree of elegance. In his view yields were critical, since some estates needed to recover production after the drought-affected 2017, and the vintage is marked by the higher quality of Barolo at MGA level. Some top wines, such as Roberto Conterno's Monfortino, were not produced, and Gaja made just 5,000 bottles of its Conteisa, against up to 10,000 in the best vintages. Submerged cap maceration was reintroduced at Maria Teresa Mascarello's estate in Barolo, where the grapes were delicious and the tannins well integrated. Bonelli compared 2018 with 2009, while Mauro Veglio in La Morra likened it to the very good 2004. For Piedmont as a whole, Vignaioli Piemontesi awarded the 2018 harvest 4 stars, between very good and excellent, and its president Giulio Porzio called it 'the vintage of the professional grower' (translated).

Decanter's report called the Barolo 2018s delicious, open-knit and approachable thanks to moderate acidity and ripe tannins, with good complexity in the top examples, though with ageing potential supposedly shorter. At GB Burlotto the vines soaked up a lot of potassium, tartaric acid fell and pH rose, while the maturity and integration of the tannins were very good. 'Perhaps the 2017 will be longer-lasting while the 2018 will be ready to drink in the next 10 years,' Fabio Alessandria of GB Burlotto told Decanter. The Consorzio expected well-balanced wines with excellent ageing potential, and called 2018 a vintage in the traditional mould that demanded close attention in the vineyard. Fiordelli agreed with Maria Teresa Mascarello that Langhe Nebbiolo and Nebbiolo d'Alba 2019 or 2020 could be better than village-level Barolo 2018.