This historic family-owned estate is named after its founder Cesare Pio, who established the business in 1881. The winery is based in Alba, in the heart of Piemonte and is now run by Federica Boffa and Cesare Benvenuto, the fifth generation of the family. Pio Cesare developed Barolo’s reputation overseas in the 1950s by being one of the first producers to export the wine to the UK. The founder’s great grandson Pio Boffa was deeply convinced of the importance of cultivating and growing owned land to produce high quality wines and played a key role in the acquisition of vineyards in the same locations where Cesare Pio used to buy his grapes from. Today Pio Cesare owns 70 hectares in the hills of Barolo and Barbaresco and makes wines in a style that manages to balance the best of the old with the best of the new. The estate includes most of the municipalities in the Barolo and Barbaresco areas.
Pio Cesare own 70 hectares of vineyards in the hills of Barolo and Barbaresco, including some of the prime sites for growing Nebbiolo including 16 hectares of the ‘Ornato’ vineyard in Serralunga d’Alba and 10 hectares in Mosconi in Monforte d’Alba, two of the best vineyards in the Barolo area. In December 2014, just a few days before Pio Boffa’s 60th birthday, the family added Mosconi to their vineyard holding. Mosconi is thought to be one of the true “grand crus” of the commune of Monforte d’Alba, itself one the most prestigious areas within Barolo.Its soils and microclimates allow Nebbiolo to grow exceptionally well and produce styles of Barolo with great structure, incredibly unique and distinctive aromas, and big opulent tannins that are accessible and ripen, silky and rich.
Adding this terroir to the family’s range offers an opportunity to strengthen, complement and enrich the style of the Barolo traditionally produced by Pio Cesare.
After pressing, the grape juice was fermented in stainless steel tanks at quite high temperatures and was left in contact with the skins for around 30 days. The majority of the wine was then aged in French oak traditional “botti” for around 30 months, while a small proportion is aged in barriques for the first 12 months.
After a dry 2017 vintage, 2018 started with a long and cold winter with good rain and snowfall that restored the soil’s water supply and as a result bud-break took place at the end of March. Spring was wet, with cooler temperatures that lasted until the beginning of the Summer, when long sunshine hours and a cooling breeze allowed for a long ripening period. This perfect weather continued throughout harvest and grapes were picked in perfectly healthy condition. Harvest began on the 17th September for the reds at Pio Cesare and finished on 13th October.
Compared to the Ornato, the 2018 Barolo Mosconi (with fruit from Monforte d’Alba) shows a tighter and more compact quality with a direct, linear and powerful approach. The bouquet builds in vertical intensity, starting with tart fruit aromas and culminating with tar, rusted nail and camphor ash. That aromatic ascent comes at you quickly, and the wine ultimately settles on a very wide, all-encompassing performance. (Monica Larner, Wine Advocate)
Serve with red meat dishes, game or seasonal truffle, mature cheeses.
Serve at 16-18°C.
95 points – James Suckling
95 points – Wine Advocate, Monica Larner
94 points – Wine Spectator, Bruce Sanderson
Barolo DOCG, Piemonte
100% Nebbiolo
Natural Cork
Yes
Yes
