Flavio Roddolo Barolo 'Ravera' 2015

Roddolo is one of the last links to a vanished Barolo. I have been lucky enough to taste some of the great Baroli from the 60s and 70s and they tasted like Roddolo. This is not someone who has connected with modern styles of winemaking then rejected it. He has not been influenced at all. He makes wine like his father and his father before. That is enough to know.

More than enough when you get to tasting what’s in the bottle. He releases late but these are still wild wines, even with decades of bottle age. He reminds me of the late Henri Bonneau, idiosyncratic master of Chateauneuf-du-Pape. No formal training. No wine dinners in the back room at Per Se. Just the vines and old knowledge.

Like Bonneau, there is no succession plan. Not really. Someone will take over the vines, I’m sure, and maybe when he’s gone there will still be a label that says Flavio Roddolo, but it won’t be the same. It never is, right?

So, let’s appreciate him while he’s here.