2010 Domenico Clerico Percristina (750ml)

Nebbiolo from Barolo, Piedmont, Italy

B-21 Top Recommendation
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Touring Piedmont, I tasted through the top producers' finished wines from the much heralded 2016 vintage, basic Barolo through top Crus. Stunning wines greeted me at one address after another, many reminding me of legendary bottlings from 1989 or '90. Clerico's dazzling offers as usual punctuated my trip, a very definite exclamation point and among the finest set of wines of this tremendous vintage. Domenico grew up in these hills, and when he entered the wine business he began assembling small parcels of the most prestigious vineyards in Monforte d'Alba. Ciabot Mentin and Pajana in Ginestre soon followed – then the prized Serralunga – each showing Nebbiolo in a different shade of dark beauty. Most vines were planted in the '50s and '70s, old vines abound here. Because of these very old vines, Clerico tops the charts even in difficult harvests; hand this estate a vintage as perfect as 2016 and you're in for skyscraper-like quality. Again in this vintage Ciabot Mentin tops my chart. And the sexy spice and depth of spine-tingling complexity is on full display in Pajana and the best Aeroplan Servaj yet. A line up that represents the life and work of Domenico Clerico.

99JS

98WA

This shows ethereal quality with dark fruit, dried flowers, tar, wet earth and fresh mushrooms and then cedar wood. The palate is full-bodied, yet the quality of the intense tannins are so polished and very, very long. Superb. Goes on and on and on. Crystal clear. Held in bottle at the winery until now. Try after 2024, but just a joy to taste as a young wine. Only 2,000 bottles made.

99 points, James Suckling (Dec 2020)

Here's a very special treat. The Domenico Clerico 2010 Barolo Per Cristina has the magic touch. With the benefit of 10 years since the harvest (with 18 months in barrique, three years in botte and five years in bottle), it offers a unique tasting experience that takes you down the proverbial rabbit hole of Nebbiolo nuances, with shifting flavors and intensity. I did not find this wine to be at all mature or oxidized, indeed I admire the brightness and freshness of its primary aromas that are very much intact and appear younger than their real age. You get dark cherry, fig, spice, tar and earth. The tannins are tucked into the silky fiber of the wine, and although you can sense that some of that power comes from the aging, the oak tannins are elegantly integrated. Per Cristina is located in the Mosconi cru with vines planted in 1968 at 240 to 280 meters above sea level. It is the estate's oldest vineyard, and the vines are known to produce small berries and concentrated fruit flavors. This Barolo was not made in 2009, and this vintage counts a mere 3,000 bottles.

98 points, Monica Larner, Wine Advocate (Jul 2020)

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$199.99

3 bottles in stock. Ships in 1 to 2 business days.

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