Pio Cesare NV Barolo Chinato

The Wine Advocate
RP 94

Reviewed by: Monica Larner

The Pio Cesare NV Barolo Chinato pours from the bottle with a dark amber colour and bright chestnut highlights. This fortified digestif shows impressive purity and intensity, with aromas you can clearly list and identify one by one. There is balsam and medicinal herbs, with notes of mentholated cough syrup, cola and candied orange peel. With time you may also pick up some Moroccan spice or toasted Spanish cedar. Alcohol is listed at 16%, though it certainly feels much higher. Balanced sweetness gently coats the palate. I'm never quite sure how to give a drinking window to Barolo Chinato, and it is ostensibly made to last forever.

The exceptional outpouring of emotion after the death of Pio Boffa, the legendary figure behind Pio Cesare, earlier this year became a historic moment for Italian wine, as the country faces the emotional and economic devastation left by the coronavirus.

Pio Boffa, 66, died on the night of 17 April 2021 after a two-week battle with COVID-19. The Italian wine community mourned his death, setting the internet alight with moving tributes, photos and memories, just as the rest of the nation began to see the first rays of light at the end of the pandemic tunnel.

Pio Boffa represented the fourth generation of his family at the helm of Pio Cesare, founded by his great-grandfather Cesare Pio in 1881. The Alba-based winery would become one of Italy's most important, with 70 hectares of vineyards and annual production of half a million bottles. Today its wines are exported to more than 50 countries.

Pio Boffa will be remembered for his charisma, his generosity and his love of life, wine and conviviality. And, as I can personally attest, he was especially keen to encourage opportunities for a younger generation of wine professionals. His contagious enthusiasm was unmistakable.

Boffa died just as his beloved company was celebrating its 140th anniversary.

To mark the occasion, two special commemorative wines will be released. The first is a 2000 Barolo Riserva (only 500 bottles available). The label shows a key worn as a necklace by the family matriarch, Nonna Rosy, who died last year aged 98. From now on, Pio Cesare will run a late-release programme with special selections from its historic cellars.

The second commemorative wine is a 2017 Barolo del Comune di Serralunga d'Alba. Exactly 1,881 bottles were produced, one for each year since the company was founded. The wine uses fruit from four vineyards: Ornato, La Briccolina, La Serra and Lirano.

A fifth generation is already at work. Pio Boffa's daughter, Federica Rosy, and his nephew, Cesare Benvenuto, run the company today.