Pio Cesare Barolo Chinato

94 Points Wine Advocate

The Pio Cesare NV Barolo Chinato pours from the bottle with a dark amber color with shiny chestnut highlights. This fortified digestif shows amazing purity and intensity, with aromas that you can list and identify clearly one by one. There is balsam and medicinal herb with minty cough syrupy, cola and candied orange peel. With time, you might also sense some Moroccan spice or toasted Spanish cedarwood. The alcohol content is registered at 16% although it surely feels much higher. Balanced sweetness wraps smoothly over the palate. I'm never quite sure how to assign a drinking window to Barolo Chinato, and it is ostensibly built to last forever.