The Pio Cesare family’s unique winemaking method stresses minimal intervention to produce wines of particularly supple flavor expression. A ceaseless devotion to the individuality of each of the region’s wines informs Pio Cesare's choices in the cellar: shorter maceration, separate lot fermentation, judicious selection for barrel and large cask aging, and bottling schedules determined by the ideal structure of each wine. This allows Pio Cesare to craft wines of varying weight, ageability and drinkability as determined by the vineyard rather than market fashion.

This Barbaresco is produced using the classic “formula” of traditional families: a wine which embraces and combines each of the unique characteristics of the different terroirs of the appellation, sourcing grapes from the family's multiple vineyards in different communes.

The grapes are sourced exclusively from the Pio Cesare family’s vineyards: the famous “Il Bricco” estate and the great hill of San Stefanetto, both located in the village of Treiso. The wine is fermented in temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks. There is skin contact for 20 days. 35 percent of the wine is aged in French oak barriques (one-third new) for 30 months. The remaining 65 percent spends three years in French oak casks, 20 to 50 hectoliters each.

A traditional vintage delivering fresh fruits and beautiful aromas, with great structure and complexity, intense color and a balanced acidity, already approachable with its gentle tannins—all the classic components of the great vintages of Barbaresco.

2020 has been a remarkably high-quality vintage and our vineyards turned out to be, in such a difficult and challenging year with the explosion of COVID-19, ideal examples of resilience and of the impressive force of Mother Nature, so cruel with human beings yet so full of mercy with the vines. Green harvesting—which kept us busy for almost one whole month, from the end of July to the end of August—was fundamental in 2020: the results of this practice are grapes with more concentration, depth, lower acidity, better phenological ripening and less green tannins. We are very much in love with the intense red fruit of the 2020 vintage—still very young but already very drinkable—rich and complex on the nose with a great depth especially in the Barolos.

The delicate use of the oak is very well integrated with the gentle tannins, the aromas and the acidity creating a harmonious balance, especially in the Barbarescos. A superb high-quality and accessible vintage which will as well reveal the great ageing potential of Nebbiolo.