Giacomo Conterno, Barolo Cascina Francia, 1998 (torn label)

Cascina Francia is the vineyard that made Giacomo Conterno's modern reputation — the Serralunga d'Alba site Giovanni Conterno bought in 1974, and the source of every bottle of Conterno Barolo since. This is the 1998, now well past twenty-five years old and deep into the tertiary register that traditional Serralunga Nebbiolo does better than almost anything: tar, dried rose, leather and truffle laid over a tannic frame that has finally softened without going slack. Conterno's method here is famously unhurried — long macerations, years in large Slavonian oak casks, nothing rushed and nothing added. A bottle for a serious table and a long evening. Note: the labels are damaged and peeling, purely cosmetic wear on a bottle of this age; the wine inside is untouched.