By: AJ McClellan
About two years ago, I was sitting at a table accompanied by some of Dallas’ finest sommeliers. We would meet once a week to go over theory and blind tastings for our sommelier exams. We were in the middle of blinding some wines when an English chap waltzed through the door, larger than life, and exclaimed in a booming voice that he had some wine for us to blind. After the room settled down he was introduced to me as a wine broker named Simon…
At the time we were all bringing $50 – $60 bottles to blind taste, and the oldest bottle I had ever had was no more than 15 years old. The first bottle that Simon poured for us was amber of color with an orange glow in the glass. I still remember how it filled the room with the aroma of fall, starting with dried leaves and baked apple pie and moving to a dusty cherry and dried rose finish. The mouth feel was like nothing I had ever had before with such elegance combined with raw power. After going around the table we ended up calling it a 1997 Barolo. It was close but no cigar; the bottle manifested from the bag and floored all of us when we discovered it was a 1978 Pio Cesare Barolo.
That bottle signified several things for me. First, it helped to fuel my love for Italian wines and Pio Cesare in particular. Second, it was a bottle from a place called Graileys that Simon had just found. And third, it introduced me to Simon and set me on the journey of which I am now a part.
When Pio Boffa, the owner of Pio Cesare, came through our door early last week I couldn’t wait to meet him. Pio was a great guy with a joking personality but a certain intenseness about him with regards to his wines. That intensity really shows through in his wines, with each bottling showing great focus through mutable layers of complexity that make them an absolute pleasure to drink.
Pio Boffa, owner of Pio Cesare, with his spectacular lineup of world class Italian Wines.
2009 Pio Cesare Cortese di Gavi – Tropical melons with a hint of unripe cantaloupe on the back end. Crisp and clean on the palate with fresh pear and peaches mingled with a great minerality of crushed quartz and chalk. Very easy drinking and approachable.
2008 Pio Cesare Arneis – The Arneis had a touch of funk on it whereas the Gavi was much cleaner. More unripe apricots and lemons with white summer flowers.
2008 Pio Cesare Dolcetto d’Alba – Exceptional display of what Dolcetto can do. This wine reminded me of a very high quality Beaujolais with fresh lively blueberries and ripe plums. There was a slight note of barley, adding complexity and a backing of clean cobblestone. Very clean wine that is light on its feet.
2008 Pio Cesare Barbera – Great flintiness upfront with a hint of gunpowder and big dark red fruits backed by a touch of black pepper and cooking spice. There is a very nice floral aspect to this wine with blooming purple flowers interwoven through the wine. The finish was long with a hint of mushroom and barnyard.
2006 Pio Cesare Nebbiolo – Sour cherry, ripe sweet plum, big slate, lavender, and red roses on the nose. The palate was slightly tart with the classic Nebbiolo gripping tannins and light body. Great finish of tobacco and smoke.
2005 Pio Cesare Barbaresco – Nose of violets, purple iris, clove, lavender, cinnamon, dill and cumin. The palate took a moment to unwind with burnt vanilla, tobacco, black pepper, and a crisp minerality. Mouth drying tannins with a refreshing acidity make for a great experience.
2005 Pio Cesare Barolo –Earthy with cracked black pepper, vegetable ash, soot, and mushrooms but with big fruit of ripe plums and overripe blueberries. There was a great minerality of slate and cobble stone with interchanging layers of fruit and earth building on each other. Tilled earth and ripe berries fighting for the forefront of the wine with flint, steel, and spice all lingering in the back. The tannins were gripping and the acid crisp; drinking this wine was almost an exhausting experience when trying to unwind the complexities and subtle minutias. This wine needs a good 15 years to start to calm down but once it does it will be a great wine!
2006 Pio Cesare Barolo – More fruit forward then the 05 with a more approachable tannin structure and body. No less complex though, with dusty cherry, sweet plum, black currants, and stewed strawberries covering a minerality of crushed rock and cigar box.
It was like meeting one of my childhood hero’s…