(Wine Searcher) - The vintage didn't look promising, but the wines turned out to be like past greats.

Sometimes it's best to seek a second opinion – take the 2014 Barolos, for example.

That year was cold and rainy with several hail storms, hardly the recipe for greatness. Yet now that the wines are being released to the marketplace, the results are far greater than many predicted. "The Barolos from 2014 offer freshness and great acidity," says Luca Currado, winemaker at Vietti, one of Barolo's most renowned estates. "2014 is an amazing, old school, classic vintage."

Given the warm, sometimes hot temperatures of recent years in the Langhe where Barolo is produced (such as 2011, 2012, 2015-2017), it's easy to understand the knee-jerk reaction of some critics and journalists that 2014 might not be a vintage worth remembering. "2014 is a vintage where we had a hard time in the vineyards," remarks Alessandro Ceretto, winemaker at the prominent family estate in Alba. "Hail and many days of rain characterized this year, and production was low."