2017 Domenico Clerico Ciabot Mentin Ginestra Barolo 750 ml

For dedicated Barolo fans, Domenico Clerico is one of those names rarely uttered without a reverential hand raised to the heart. Wine Advocate said the label makes “emotional, moving wines,” while Vinous’ Antonio Galloni cited Clerico as formative to his love affair with Piedmont.

However, the winery isn’t a stuffy bastion of traditionalism. Domenico Clerico, who passed away in 2017, was an innovator and a leader of a movement that brought Barolo into the modern age—not only helping boost the region’s reputation to stratospheric levels, but also raising the wines’ quality to match.

Clerico helped build a new wave of enthusiasm for Piedmont’s wines when he took over his father’s winery in the late 1970s. Dissatisfied with the spotty quality of Barolos at the time, he was one of a group of maverick winegrowers in the 1980s who began experimenting with different approaches to cultivating and crafting Barolo. This “Modernist” school—which included now-iconic names like Paolo Scavino, Angelo Gaja, and Roberto Voerzio—looked to Bordeaux and the New World as they revamped their vineyard management and cellar regimens.

Forty years of staying on the cutting edge propelled Clerico’s 96-point 2017 Ciabot Mentin Ginestra Barolo to critical acclaim and a 2022 Tre Bicchieri award. "Ciabot" is a house or shed nestled among the vines, and "Mentin" is the owner from whom Domenico bought his plot of land, an excellent cru to the northeast of Monforte d’Alba.

An exemplar of old-vine Nebbiolo—averaging 40 years of age—grown in one of the region’s most celebrated crus, the wine deftly balances power and finesse, with a rich structure and firm tannins that will allow it to develop further complexity in the cellar.