The estate’s 2004 Barolo Runcot presents lovely harmony and balance. It is a full-bodied, concentrated wine with plenty of ripe dark fruit intermingled with sweet toasted oak nuances. Grasso says he may give this as much as 40 months in oak. Runcot is aged in 100% new French oak, although toast levels have come down, in 2004 50% is light toast and 50% is medium toast. It remains a very promising wine made in a distinctly more modern style than the house’s other Barolos. Anticipated maturity: 2011-2022. Elio Grasso’s wines are made in a unique, crisply articulated style that highlights balance and harmony over sheer power. “For our 2004 Barolos we did roughly 30 days of maceration in stainless steel, where the wines also completed their malolactic fermentations,” says Gianluca Grasso. “The wines were then racked into 25 hectoliter barrels where they aged for two and a half years. The Runcot saw 35-40 days of maceration and may spend up to 40 months in 100% new French oak.” Various American importers, including: Martin Scott Wines, Little Neck, NY; tel. (516) 327-0808; Langdon Shiverick Imports, Cleveland, OH; tel. (213) 483-5900; Classic Wine Imports, Norwood, MA; Admirality Beverage Co. Columbia Distributing Company, Portland, Oregon; tel. (503) 289-9600