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.

First launched with the 1985 vintage, Barolo Ornato was Pio Cesare's original single-vineyard bottling. Great structure, power, concentration, with a very long life. Produced in small quantities.

This is a single-vineyard Barolo from very ripe grapes of three different plots of the famous Pio Cesare family’s Ornato estate in Serralunga d’Alba, one of the top vineyards in the Barolo region. It is fermented in stainless steel with skin contact for 30 days and aged in in oak botti for about 30 months, and a small amount in French oak for the first 12 months.

This wine has great structure and concentration, with ripe fruit, soft tannins and tobacco. May be enjoyed upon release, but will reward time in the cellar. 

2018 was a traditional vintage, not excessively hot, with abundant rainfall, and therefore less problematic than 2017 from an agronomical standpoint. The family produced Barolos and Barbarescos with defined structure, intense color and aromatic complexity, a great concentration of red fruits, high acidity, clean and firm tannins, round and silky but at the same time structured and powerful, very long-lasting and with an excellent aging potential.

Picking the nebbiolo for Barolo began on October 7th in the Ornato vineyard, a very large amphitheater located in the southern portion of the village of Serralunga d’Alba, exposed to the sun all day long. Thanks to its particular location and soil, Ornato is usual the earliest vineyard we harvest, producing structured and powerful wines, complemented with great finesse and elegance. Harvesting continued in the Mosconi vineyard in the village of Monforte, followed by estate vineyards in Serralunga (Lirano, Serra and Briccolina), then in Gustava and Garretti vineyards in the village of Grinzane Cavour. The nebbiolo harvest finished on October 13th at the Ravera vineyard in Novello.