Barolo 2008 – some gems

I had the huge pleasure of tasting these 43 Baroli 2008s blind last September under the auspices of the magazine World of Fine Wine. I was tasting with Italian specialist Nicolas Belfrage MW and Bruno Besa of Italian wine importers Astrum, who was suffering from a terrible cold. Nick was less enthusiastic about the vintage than I was. I found some lovely discreet, elegant wines that, it seemed to me, could only have been produced in Barolo. I was looking above all for purity and I found quite a few wonderfully pure wines.

All the wines finished dry but...