2013 Fratelli Giacosa Bussia Barolo Piedmont Italy 750 ml

When we first tasted the 2013 Fratelli Giacosa Barolo Bussia, we naturally assumed that it would arrive here closer to $80 a bottle, or more. After all, it stopped us dead in our tracks with its razor’s edge balance between fruit and floral aromatics. We could hardly believe it ourselves. Bussia, after all, is widely respected as one of the great crus of Barolo, a region with no shortage of legendary growths. And Giacosa Fratelli can trace its history back well more than a century.

Today’s Fratelli Giacosa 2013 Barolo Bussia practically hovers above the glass with fresh-picked roses, dark berries, red cherries, and tobacco, it all came together beautifully. Today, it’s a Wine Access exclusive at less than $30 a bottle on cases, and nothing short of staggering.

James Suckling praised the wine’s hazelnut-flecked “chocolate and dark berry character,” and “velvety tannins and a fresh finish” when he reviewed it in 2017. But he also predicted that it will really hit its stride this year, in 2019.

This particular Barolo is grown in the chalky soils of Bussia, an absolutely perfect mix of clay and more calcareous elements. That means that the wines that are grown there boast mouthwatering fruit characteristics, all of it anchored by tar and leather and energized by hints of flowers. The Giacosas’ 22-acre Cascina Canavere vineyard in particular, located at more than 1,200 feet above sea level, benefits even further from cool temperatures and plenty of sunlight. This is a privileged place, indeed, even within the venerated cru of Bussia.

And it all came together in 2013, a year whose “cool growing season and late harvest produced gorgeous Barolos with striking aromatics, silky tannins, sculpted, vibrant fruit and mid-weight structures,” according to Vinous. “[You] will find a number of thrilling, utterly captivating wines that speak to the pedigree and class that are the signatures of the best Barolo vintages.”

This Fratelli Giacosa Barolo Bussia is a wine that is just now inching toward its peak, a crowning achievement for a family with over a century of experience in the region. It’s a magnificent evocation of that mysteriously beautiful part of Italy whose fog, rolling hills, and history of producing some of the most age-worthy wines in the world all came together in 2013. At the price—at twice the price!—this is unforgettable.