Cecilia Monte Barbaresco DOCG "Dedicato a Paolo" 2018 750mL

The 2018 Dedicato a Paolo Barbaresco from Cecilia Monte is made from a very small parcel of 70+ year old Nebbiolo vines in the Serracapelli cru. The name (meaning dedicated to Paolo) references Cecilia’s father Paulo who has always identified the parcel as the most distinctive of the vineyard.

It’s a very special wine, made in very small quantities. Our advice is to buy it, and wait. Wait as long as you can. Cecilia has given it the perfect structure - with careful oak treatment to match the powerful fruit - the rest is up to you. Patience will be key to experiencing the joy that it has to offer. It already has all of the dried flowers, dried herbs and balsamic notes that you will come to expect from Cecilia’s Nebbiolo wines from the Serracapelli cru, but the Dedicate a Paulo has a real sense of wound up tension that will need time in the bottle to fully express itself.

We found (tasting in 2024) that it came started to come alive after 8 hours (!) in a decanter, with the silky tannins, cherries and raspberries emerging from an otherwise tightly locked safe. But it clearly has much more to give, so we recommend putting it away and checking in again in 5, 10 or 20 years from now. We paired it with Ottolenghi’s Lamb Shawarma (and just for fun, had it alongside Cecilia’s other two wines from the Serracapelli vineyard for comparison: the 2019 Serracapelli Barbaresco and the 2021 Langhe Nebbiolo)