The recently-bottled 2004 Barolo Villero is simply awesome. A vivid, multi-dimensional wine, the Villero emerges from the glass with layers of dark cherries, spices, violets, smoke, minerals, licorice and tar. The level of precision and clarity here is simply mind-boggling. Readers will have to wait until 2011 to get their hands on this gem, but any bottle opened before 2016 (at the very earliest) is likely to be a purely academic exercise. The Villero spent a whopping 46 months in oak, virtually all of it large cask. Anticipated maturity: 2016-2034.