Twenty-two mind-blowing wines of 2022

Godello in the Stellenbosch heather, Reyneke Wine Estate

We are who we are and we choose to live in a world according to wine. Within its walls are endless permutations and revelations, of the dark moments and the light, the romantic entanglements and the failures. We witness cycles of passion, highs and lows, endless accounts of quirky little episodes that reveal how grapes really live under the circumstances of a vintage. How they survive and thrive, eventually turning into the wine they become. A wine’s history is a lovely aside accompanied by a recorded and constructed account through the lens of someone who observes its transformations. We are messengers who take the land, plant and maker into consideration and always abide, recounting the story to those who would choose to listen. According to WineAlign I reviewed more than 3,000 wines in 2022, which means I tasted at least 3,500, if not more. In order to surmise this final list from a shortlist of more than 100 mind-blowing wines it meant another 2,900 are not even in the running and yet surely no less than a quarter are exceptional wines in their own right. That is how difficult, personal and stringent an exercise this annual choosing has become. I find it near impossible these days and yet somehow feel compelled to continue the drill.

Godello in Chianti Classico

The year 2022 afforded multiple opportunities to get back on the road in search of great wines in places across the ponds and beyond. To Tuscany in both February and March, for the for the Chianti Classico Collection and also as chaperone to La Squadra Canadese for a week of exploration throughout the 11 UGAs of the territory. Forever in Chianti Classico included a masterclass presented by Italian wine expert Filippo Bartolotta and Consorzio President Giovanni Manetti titled Il Chianti Classico in 9 Decadi. This year-end summary includes one of those Chianti Classico wines dating back to 1949 but a few more could been here as well, including the fascinating Badia A Coltibuono Chianti Classico 1958. At Laura Bianchi’s estate the Castello Di Monsanto Sangioveto 1986 was one to blow my mind, as did Luca Martini di Cigala’s San Giusto a Rentennano Percarlo 2018 and VinSanto del Chianti Classico 1998. As a proud, card-carrying Ambasciatore there are dozens upon dozens of Classico and affiliate sangiovese that move me each and every calendar year. Il Molino Di Grace Gratius 2018 is an example and just one of many.

After that Tuscan adventure I moved on to Sicily for a five day exploration of The five estates of Planeta earth and my stay turned into two weeks. Covid-19 had caught me and yet the humanity of Alessio Planeta, Patricia Tòth and several winemakers aboard L’Etna turned a challenging test result into many days of discovery and deeper volcanic understanding. In fact L’Etna and Parco Statella saved my Sicilian quarantine. So many producers’ wines could and should be on this list: Azienda Agricola Sofia, Calcagno, Donnafugata, Eduardo Torres, Feudo Pignatone, Girolamo Russo, Graci, Scirto, Tascante, and Vigneti Vecchio. Oddly this was not a year for nebbiolo with likely the least amount of opportunities made available and yet a month from now I will spend 10 days in Piemonte to make up for the absence in 2022. That said there can be no forgetting Réva Barolo Cannubi 2018, from which impartiality is off the table because if you do not fall in love with this Barolo then you are not setting your palate free.

Travels in June and Abruzzo in four-part harmony included a bucket list visit with Emidio Pepe where I found that an unwavering commitment to land is everything that matters in making exceptional and memorable wine. It’s not only what you do but also who you are. Ahead of that trip I had tasted La Valentina Montepulciano d’Abruzzo DOC Bellovedere Riserva Terre Dei Vestini 2017, and there can be little doubt that it is a wine that resides at the top of the montepulciano food chain because this Riserva hails from a most specific and important terroir. After Abruzzo and then Rome I moved on to attend the first ever Anteprima for Simply Red: Rosso di Montalcino where the Brunello were set aside for one day only and the 2020 vintage of Rosso got directly under my skin, including Lorenzo Magnelli’s mind bending Le Chiuse Rosso Di Montalcino DOC 2020. Dieci Anni di Rosso di Montalcino (Ten Years of Rosso di Montalcino) and Selezione di Rosso di Montalcino (Rosso di Montalcino Selection) showed wines of age-ability and purpose; my if Alessandro Mori’s Il Marroneto Rosso Di Montalcino DOC Jacopo 2019 did not blow my mind. A visit with Violante Gardini Cinelli Colombini meant a pour of Donatella Cinelli Colombini Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Io Sono Donatella 2015 for the most profound barrel expression of Le Donne’s Brunelli.

Menfi

In October the Cape Wine congress resumed after a four year absence and now more than ever this is what I have to say. South Africa is the most exciting and mind-expanding wine universe alive today. There are no less than 40 Western Cape wines from two dozen or so producers tasted in 2022 that could have made this list: A.A. Badenhorst, Alheit, Beaumont, Boekenhoutskloof, Crystallum, David and Nadia Sadie, Hamiilton Russell, Huis van Chevallerie, Kanonkop, Ken Forrester, La Motte, Leeu Passant, Klein Contsantia, Meerlust, Momento, Mullineux, Old Road Wine Company, Porseleinberg, Raal, Raats, Radford Dale, Restless River, Reyneke, Savage, Sijnn, Storm and The Sadie Family. To name but a few. Other southern hemisphere wines were killer in 2022, namely Torbreck Grenache Hillside Vineyard 2019, a special Barossa block to be sure.

With John Szabo MS and Rosa Kruger at the Old Vines Project tasting

In November a return to Montalcino for Benvenuto Brunello 2022 meant a look at the 2018 vintage but also the Riserva of 2017. At Col d’Orcia the Conte Francesco Cinzano Marone and his son Santiago led yet another vertical tasting, this time on the 8s and it was Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Poggio Al Vento 1988 that stood both out and also the test of time. From Montalcino it was on to Vienna and then a Wagram-Traisental discovery tour that was both too short and mind-expanding – A return must and will happen soon. Meanwhile a tasting at home in the WineAlign office showed this Rheingau gem to the crü. Leitz Berg Schlossberg Grosses Gewächs Riesling Trocken 2019 is grand Rüdesheim indeed.

These are the wines that blew my mind in 2022

Most of all 2022 was a year when associates, colleagues, wine professionals and especially friends reunited to break bread and taste great wines together. At a birthday party I had the opportunity to taste the following in one evening; Château Lafitte 1986, Château Mouton-Rothschild 1986, Chave Hermitage 2010, Guigal Côte-Rôtie La Turque 1999, Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage La Chapelle 1990, Dom Perignon 2000, Veuve Cliquot La Grand Dame 1995 to name just seven of 20-plus icons. Bordeaux made several prominent appearances in ’22; Château Margaux 1989 (and 2004), Château Haut-Brion 2012 and Château La Mission Haut-Brion 2012. More importantly in 2022 we shared bottles of all ilk, pedigree and origin, not only the expensive and famous labels but all the great wines, big and small. Thank you to every person who poured, for every sip and taste, with heartfelt thanks. These are Godello’s 22 mind-blowing wines of 2022.

Markus Huber Grüner Veltliner Berg 1ÖTW 2021, Traisental, Austria

Highest and coolest vineyard of the Traisental Erste Lage because by three or four pm the forest casts shade over the vineyard. Limestone based soil as well, upwards of 380m and the only portion that has iron rich red elements in the earth. Actually finding a richness in this, surely vintage related and that is unexpected but it’s also the most savoury, minty cool, eucalyptus accented, or the like. Curious by comparison to Alte Zetsen and Zwirch, in what is assessed as almost dark, smoky, spicy volcanic-simulate stuff. Brings whole and utter meaning to grüner veltliner at the Grand Cru level. Drink 2023-2028. Tasted November 2022

Godello with Charla Bosman

Sijnn White 2019, WO Malgas, South Africa

Up above the Breede River there are vines of chenin blanc, viognier, roussanne and verdelho, varieties that have been working towards a common goal, to eventuate at something great. Then 2019 comes along and the world changes. This is the vintage from which David Trafford, Sijnn and winemaker Charla (Hassbroek) Bosman take full reign of their collective charge. To be truthful the agriculture, winemaking and face of the brand is Bosman and were I in the market to hire someone of her passion, ability and professionalism I could not help but remunerate her like a top European footballer. But lucky we all are that she and Sijnn are together because she is at one with this impossible yet absurdly beautiful environment where wines like this White Blend are made and will blow your proverbial mind. They attach themselves and get so close to that personal part of you. Imagine Châteauneuf though I’d much rather consider Malgas because that is what this is. Rich and perfectly viscous, spicy, structured and fine. Drink 2024-2030. Tasted October 2022

Girolamo Russo Etna Bianco DOC San Lorenzo 2020, Sicily, Italy

From the single vineyard at 730-740m of elevation and vinified in tonneaux. The 2009 was the first vintage of San Lorenzo Bianco for a wine that leads amongst the 80-90 thousand total bottles made by Giuseppe Russo from 18 hectares. A strong selection from the plants of carricante with cattaratto and grecanico. The carricante are the oldest and they provide the breadth in the mouth, the texture in unction and the presence that really makes you feel the vineyard. The difference between it and Nerina is really in the selection of the grapes. Giuseppe wants his whites to speak for his territory, here to be a bit more generous and 2020 obliges first because it was easier and second because it is such a vintage specific to the white wines. Such beauty and emotion is purity and life. No stress and a wine you want to drink. Drink 2022-2028. Tasted March 2022

David And Nadia Sadie Wines Plat’Bos Chenin Blanc 2021, WO Swartland, South Africa

At a tasting where everything is Old Vines Project certified there must be something extraordinary about a wine to stand out from a crowd of greats. David and Nadia Sadie are in fact turning heritage vines chenin blanc (amongst other varietal explorations) into content born of context harboured though never paraded. They are rhythmic and scientific with just enough fantasy and romanticism, but never too much. Plat’Bos stands above Skaliekop and Hoë Steen because 2021 asks it to do so, not because it is better or more important, but it is surely chenin blanc profound. The 1981 Swartland planting is in the steady zone, shed of the mercurial and in ’21 so very linear yet salty of the earth in its sombre-sepulchral tone. There is reduction here because the poor soil nutrients demand that this chenin begins this way. The levels of tension and intensity are most elevated, sufficing to say as high as any from the Western Cape. Attention is paid unwavering to detail, sequencing is in order, purity incarnate, grape and place together pristinely kept. In Plat’Bos 2021 the palate is taken down to the whipping post by a wine built to endure. Given time there will be calm, healing and reward in the end. Drink 2024-2036. Tasted October 2022

The Sadie Family Die Ouwingerdreeks Mev. Kirsten Wyn Van Oorsprong Stellenbosch Die Sadie Familie Wyne 2021, Stellenbosch, South Africa

The vines that supply Mev. Kirsten Wyn are the oldest chenin blanc in the country, out of Stellenbosch and planted in 1905. In 1947 every second row was pulled out to make room for tractors and the configuration still exists this way. “If South Africa has a true apex white Grand Cru vineyard then this is it” insists Eben Sadie. Facts are facts are you just can’t accede these levels of power, concentration, extract and tannin anywhere else. The nose communicates as an intoxicant of sublime forces and these grapes bestow chenin blanc 2021 are those that transcend fruit, deliver ethereality and a heightened sense of awareness. An awakening from necessary tension, crisis and personal freedoms, existential off the charts, poetic and epic. One hundred and sixteen stanzas recorded, in the books and the finest verse written right here in the most recent vintage. If enlightenment is to be gained from chenin blanc in the Western Cape, Mev. Kirsten would provide the fodder. “The grail. End of fucking story” concludes Sadie. All hail. Long live the queen. Drink 2025-2040. Tasted October 2022

Iconic Bourgogne

Domaine De Bellene Vosne Romanée Premier Cru Les Suchots 2020, AC Bourgogne, France

“Suchots” originates from “souches,” the name given to the woods before the land was prepared to house these vines. Les Suchots is but a small 13 hectare part of the larger 220 in total for Vosne Romanée and was first planted in 1937. La Romanée and Saint Vivant are the closest plots, south of Echezeaux, north or Richebourg and though just six per cent of the appellation it is actually the largest Premier Cru Climat therein. The vineyard is divided in two by a road. The eastern part below lays just above the cemetery and the village terroir called Hautes Maizieres. The top part is located below Les Beaux-Monts. The 2019 was a dream, crème de la crème and yet 2020 seems to embrace the powerful vintage with a most extraordinary level of perfume. That and fruit concentrated to a maximum degree without falling into any of the trappings associated with hyperbole. The concept of pinot noir reaching regional levels like this seems counterintuitive to the variety-appellation contract but the balance and harmony at the top is something the likes almost never seen. This will surely be one of the wines that explain with hyper clarity what 2020 is as a vintage. Drink 2026-2040. Tasted May 2022

Graci Etna Rosso DOC Arcurìa Sopra Il Pozzo 2017, Sicily, Italy

Sopra il Pozzo describes a special portion of the signature Arcurìa vineyard (and contrada of the same name), a block “above the well,” 100 per cent nerello mascalese picked in the last week of October. Treated to the same maceration and elévage as the Rosso for the same spontaneous style and time as Feudo di Mezzo. However Sopra il Pozzo’s “refuse” soil composition is different and requires patience in the name of time, due to its alternating layers of decomposed volcanics in stone and coarse sand. This is a section of recast material and the corresponding mascalese is both emasculated and chivalrous. The degree to which layers of fruit, mineral and umami incorporare and completare is finite and contiguous yet also lengthy, scorrevole and endless. There is rare Etna glycerin texture and perfectly timed acid tang. Tempismo perfetto. Grande. Drink 2024-2032. Tasted April 2022

Elisabetta Foradori

Foradori Granato Teroldego 2019, IGT Vigneti Delle Dolomiti, Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy

Granato from Elisabetta Foradori resides at or near the peak of the Trentino-Alto Adige wine chain, a Dolomite force of varietal nature, richness incarnate and cragged to gain your full attention. Fruit comes at a great premium, not by absence of the heart but because so much site, land and space speak louder than words. A static red stuck in a state of cryogenic freeze, immovable and surely able to handle immobility and also time. Will drink beautifully for a decade and a half, or possibly more. Drink 2024-2034. Tasted February 2022

Garage Wine Co. Truquilemu Vineyard Lot 97 Dry Farmed Old Vines Field Blend Carignan 2018, DO Maule Valley, Chile

The eastern facing side of the Coastal Range where the old vines grow, in places where you had to make wines for the Catholic Church, “to save souls.” The most aromatic of Derek’s wines, a true field blend with a je ne sais quoi of varieties bursting off of dry farmed bush vines. Showy with that combination of outright juiciness juxtaposed against iron-fisted structure. A wine that comes from a place where the farmer worked to break up the “los camellones”, strange diagonal lines drawn and a framer who shows how to separate the land so that making great wine is easier. This is a remarkable example of old, bush and real. Drink 2024-2030. Tasted July 2022

Barone Ricasoli Castello Di Brolio Chianti Classico 1949, Tuscany, Italy

Tasted as part of “Il Chianti Classico in 9 Decadi” led by Filippo Bartolotta with Giovanni Manetti at Stazione Leopolda in Florence at the Chianti Classico Collection. The oldest wine in the flight. apropos and just when you consider the Ricasoli heritage and lineage. A mineral layering which instinctively mimics the compaction of argiloso, macigno and calcari from Brolio’s soils, no longer feeling the separation or mille-feuille effect but now just all morphed into one and the same. There were surely some white wines in this mix, as per the formula written decades earlier by Bettino Ricasoli. Probably helped keep the freshness for some time and while this is now all earth and stone the wine is very much alive. There’s even some sweetness and citrus showing, indicative of blood orange some 73 years later, finishing with a trebbiano and malvasia Vinsanto tang. Tasted March 2022

Isole E Olena Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2016, Tuscany, Italy

“I did not like Gran Selezione, I did not have anything against Gran Selezione but the discussion about UGA (sub-zones) was already underway so why not wait for this next change to the appellation?” The thinking for Paolo de Marchi was more about the wines that did not qualify for the appellation becoming wines that now qualified, the issue being a new rule could not apply to only 30 or so producers. So what is needed for that to happen? “All grapes born here should be able to travel with a passport.” If it is more complicated than that then there is much more to discuss. A Chianti Classico from a long, linear and fortifying vintage delivers equally appropriate and extending tannins, gripping the composition while proposing to become elegant and fine. The seamlessness and never wavering focus keeps on keeping on, in the ways of emotion in motion. Will remain in bottle one year more before being released to the market. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted February 2022

Canalicchio Di Sopra Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Vigna La Casaccia 2018, Tuscany, Italy

Great anticipation to taste La Casaccia and Montosoli side by each from a vintage carrying no option but to act out the passion play through the glaring clarity of a sense of place. There are facts involved and there is no hiding the truth formed by these plots of sangiovese in this vintage. By now it is understood how 2018 exists on its own accord at one with nature though Francesco Ripaccioli will tell you there are similarities with 2013, if only because that vintage was greatly ignored and is drinking well at this time. La Casaccia in the località of Canalicchio is the wildcard of Montalcino and tasting several wines from the frazione reveals a collective affinity supplied by the year’s gifts. Nothing was portioned or taken away from the ’18 Annata and yet this Vigna sings with even more range and depth than that wine. The acids are simply out of this proverbial world, the linear aspects drawn with precise architectural or even, in Old English speak, a Cutter’s line. Remarkable reserve in concentration and forward slicing finesse. Forever long. Forever young. Drink 2025-2038. Tasted November 2022

Biondi Santi Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG 2016, Tuscany, Italy

Riserva 2016 is the 42nd such vintage since 1888 from estate vineyards and the oldest parcels therein. Meanwhile olive trees and other compatible local species grow in those places and there always seems to be lower pH and higher bright acidity coming off the grapes. The Federico Radi team seeks to broaden biodiversity with unlimited scope and more vineyards would benefit by following such a plan. When Biondi-Santi gets to their next position we can expect even more refined and higher quality wines. Meanwhile the harmony and extant abilities in this ’16 Riserva are almost impossible to believe. A Riserva of fruit termed as the locus of the points drawn at an equidistant from the centre. Sangiovese of no stops and starts existing on a special kind of ellipse in which the eccentricity is zero and the two foci are coincident. Simple descriptors like crunch, chew or crust are not in the lexicon nor do service to speak about the texture of this remarkable sangiovese. Subtlety and strength, a dappling of early morning light, patterning and shimmering as if on water. The phenolics are spot on, coherent and the connection with both palate and tannins perform as an unbreakable bond. A canvas flooded with colour and while there is a level of transparency there are no white spots. Everything is filled in. Clocks in at 14 per cent abv. Drink 2025-2040. Tasted November 2022

Fontodi Flaccianello Della Pieve 2001, IGT Toscana Centrale, Tuscany, Italy

Youthful is the proverbial understatement, zesty and full of Panzano life the other. A sangiovese in strike of ideal accord, freshness captured in bottle and development low, easy and slow accrued. Just like the season, stress-free, never too hot, never too wet. Stellar autumn of warm days and retentive cool nights. A late harvest and full phenolic character. It all shows in this 20-plus year-old Flaccianello, singing a ballad, verse after verse, refrain post refrain. After 20 minutes a sweet porcini perfume emits and one wishes for a 50 day dry-aged Chianina Fiorentina. What fortune! Along with the special effects of smoky rosmarino and wild fennochio. Drink 2022-2029. Tasted February 2022

Sassicaia 2019, DOC Bolgheri, Tuscany, Italy

Priscilla Incisa’s Tenuta San Guido is located one hour south of Pisa, going back many generations. The surface area covers 2,500 hectares in a “classic Tuscan agricultural estate, of vines, olive oil, cereals including wheat and feed for thoroughbred horses. There are 500 hectares towards the seashore dedicated to a wild life refuge “paradise” free from hunting and for migrating birds coming from northern Europe and heading to Africa, especially because a good part of the land is covered by water during the winter. Before 1994 the appellation was Vino da Tavola. The grand vin Sassicaia is always a minimum 80 per cent cabernet sauvignon (as per the appellation) with cabernet franc. The youthful perfume of Sassicaia is really something other, an invitation to the plume of a great and mighty bird that will soon migrate or not be seen or heard from until another season. The fruit is both wound taut and also layered, a mix of liquids, gasses and decomposed mineral, turning on its axes, literally the earth itself. The effort put in speaks volumes about the quality and yet the seamless transitions are as if there are no transitions at all, only one contiguous entity. Will release in Ontario as an Online Exclusive by lottery on October 20th. Drink 2025-2034. Tasted September 2022

Emidio Pepe Montepulciano d’Abruzzo DOC 2002, Abruzzo, Italy

The subtle and gentle elegance of 2002 is almost mystifying, if at least a surprise that kinda hypnotizes. Memory serves up a case of conflict and adversity, if also vintage envy for the bookends of 2001 and 2003. And yet the cool of the night prevails to elongate a montepulciano for our pleasure and make it sing 20 years later. It was also decanted to reduce the lees sediment and then re-corked for our benefit. Words cannot express what a beautiful place this 2002 EP is found to be. It is a treat to taste and also behold, exactly as of right now. Drink 2022-2026. Tasted June 2022

Planeta Santa Cecilia 2005, DOC Noto, Sicily, Italy

Finding oneself in a state of utter disbelief upon nosing an older Santa Cecilia has just happened with thanks to this 2005 and the unthinkable aromatics it possesses. There have been some older examples like 2007, 2008 and 2011 which all showed morphological magic but this, this is something other. The state of perfumed preservation is impossible, the floral emanations and fruit continuance implausible and in suspension of belief. The 2005 is almost perfect, dark berries and red citrus alive, acids in perfect condition, wood dissolved, resolved and walked straight out the door. The life and vitality reside in the arena of the flawless, faultless and achievable. This is what nero d’avola, Santa Cecilia, Noto and Planeta can be, at its collective finest. Will drink this way (and also that) for five more years and with ease. Drink 2022-2027. Tasted April 2022

Château Cheval Blanc 1998, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru Classé, Bordeaux, France

The 24 year-old 1998 has been argued and predominantly defended as a Right Bank vintage, especially for merlot based wines, which the 1998 Cheval Blanc happens to be. Clocks in at 65 percent plus (35) cabernet franc and the two combine for hypnotic aromatics to put mind and palate in an immediately dizzying and gratifying tizzy. Dark, dark fruit of the “cimmérienne” kind yet of a grace and genteel manner shared by other profoundly distinguished red wines. Thoughts can wander and wonder as a result of tasting this blind and considering the depth it is nebbiolo that is imagined. Only for a moment because the numerous dual-toned vibrations direct towards knowing this to be a blend and so Right Bank combinations lead by their impression. Both of ’98 Cheval Blanc’s are blessed of ripenesses, acids and structural bones all having peaked at a shared summit. The conclusion can only be a two-part perception, of balance and beauty. Drink 2022-2042. Tasted November 2022

Mullineux Schist Syrah 2019, WO Swartland, South Africa

Vines planted in 1999, mature if still 12 years away from being classified as “Old Vines.” Schist is the home Brownstone Vineyard, shallow and rocky of less than 20 cm of soil. An extreme site in which vines attempt to grow, but so much comes down to the where and how. Rows are close together and planted in an almost race track configuration within an amphitheatre. The roots spread and dig deep within the stripes of schist interspersed with iron and the grapes are harvested plant by plant to create two apposite cuvées. Visually these are small vines with smaller leaves and an airiness – physically speaking. The skeletal backbone here is upright, towering and commanding, the juiciest of varietal fruit hanging as flesh, taut and muscular upon these bones. Unyielding yet never brooding nor astringent, but bountiful and beautiful. Drink 2024-2032. Tasted July 2022

Penfolds Grange 1981, South Australia

Poured blind and easily recognized as a wine of great depth with at least two decades of maturity. Either older or hastily advanced but there are indicators to the former, namely high tones, substantial crunchy acids and full on perfume. There is a touch of Brettanomyces but only a feathery tickle and the wine still has something left to give and also to prove. Great depth is provided by wood notes, of soy, balsamic, wild fennel and all together now a reduction keeping its form, a foxy liqueur, once Cassis but now Amaro, finishing with flavours bloody and gamy. The reveal as Grange 1981 explains that while shiraz is always the game and king it had been a season for which the cabernet sauvignon portion exceeded 10 percent. Winemaker John Duval felt that ’81 was a tannic one but they left the building long ago. Both Barossa and McLaren Vale were involved and so this look back at blending expertise matters in the context of all Aussie blends being tasted today. Being present to be poured a taste of Grange represents good fortune and from 1981 there abides a full and fair suck of the sauce bottle. Drink 2022-2025. Tasted November 2022

Donnafugata Ben Ryé 2019, Passito Di Pantelleria DOC, Sicily, Italy

Ben, as in “son of” and Ryé, a Sicilian riff on the concept of making strong mocker from the wheat grass. Think of grapes instead, in this case zibibbo (muscat of Alexandria) grown off the southwestern coast of Sicily on the Island of Pantelleria. Passito di Pantelleria DOC is one of the world’s great sweet wines, found only on this windswept promontory where the grapes concentrate, drink in the sea and express a view to which only this place commits. The warmest of vintages develops and comprises these particular sugars into something surreal. Extraordinary orange-ginger crème brûlée, perfectly embittered and made viscous in the most natural of ways. Layers of dedication and spice, health affirming herbs, respiratory fixing drops and sweetness captured, effortlessly and to gift plaisir. Apricots ripe and glazed, zen zero limone, giusto intenso. Nearly perfect. Drink 2025-2039. Tasted April 2022

Vintage Port (c) Sarah Goddard/WineAlign

Niepoort Vintage Port 2019, DOP Douro, Portugal

Expect top concentration in Vintage Port from what Niepoort calls a “return to balance in the vineyard” type of season. Summer was unseasonably cool and the timely rainfall on the 26/27th of August was invaluable, allowing fruit maturity to go to completion. A recall to 2008, of natural, acid driven, balanced musts. Foot trodden in circular granite lagares with 100 per cent stems, racked soon after harvest, aged in “tonéis” (large oak vats) in the Douro over the winter, and then moved to the cellars in Vila Nova de Gaia in the Spring of 2020. Acid vintage indeed, fruit caught by circumfuse so as to be surrounded, ignited and eventually dispersed for decades of slow release power. The liquid chalkiness of tannin is so fine-grained you swirl and mull over just how hypnotizing it is. Truly great Vintage Port will act out this passion play. Drink 2025-2048. Tasted October 2022

Good to go!

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WineAlign

Asti DOCG 2022 – Special Report

Oct21

Asti’s ascent from authenticity to sustainability and unmistakable wines

as seen on WineAlign

The northwestern Italian territory of Asti DOCG covers the area of Langhe, Roero and Monferrato and together they form the first Italian wine landscape to be recognized as a UNESCO heritage site. The grape variety moscato bianco grows in vineyards in all three to cover the counties of Cuneo, Asti and Alessandria. The area is a cultural and modern gem in the heart of Piedmont (Piemonte, in Italian), about 55 kilometres east of Turin in the plain of the Tanaro River. A sense of spirit, community and great heart echoes and reverberates through wines voracious in their appetite to capture both traditions and also the new and forward thinking Asti stories. Asti Spumante and Moscato d’Asti are challenging wines to produce but these folkloric producers have to do it. It Is their heritage, imperative and pleasure.

Asti Spumante DOCG and Moscato d’Asti DOCG are considered as the two most authentically aromatic Italian white wines and rank among the great wines of Piedmont. Asti Spumante is undoubtedly the world’s best-known aromatic sparkling wine and Moscato d’Asti are among the few wines in which the sensory qualities of the grapes remain unaltered as a result of soft pressing and incomplete alcoholic fermentation. Asti Spumante and Moscato d’Asti are declinations of the same grape variety, made from 100 per cent moscato bianco grapes that grow on limestone soils in the UNESCO World Heritage hills between Asti, Alessandria and Cuneo. Asti Spumante can be tasted in different versions, from Extra Dry, Dry, Brut and the most popular Dolce, but also in the classic method or “Metodo Classico” version.

Asti DOCG Aromas

Asti Spumante DOCG

Asti Spumante DOCG is made entirely from moscato bianco grapes, gaining benefit from chalky soils and microclimates typical of hilly areas. It has a characteristic musky flavour, well-balanced sweetness, acidity and moderate alcohol content. In recent years Asti producers have set an important new course, paving the way to expanding the range of Asti styles, based on different residual sugar levels from Demi-Sec through Extra-Brut.

The concentration of the precious aromatic substances (called linalool) produced by the moscato bianco berries peaks in the last few weeks before the grapes are harvested in early September. Harvesting is still accomplished by hand to keep the bunches whole and preserve the characteristic aroma of the grapes – factors that contribute to making Asti Spumante the most widely consumed aromatic sparkling wine in the world.

Characterized by particularly fine and persistent beading, Asti offers a fresh mouthfeel that makes it suitable as a full-meal wine. On the nose, one can appreciate a delicate floral (acacia, lavender, sage) and fruity (apple, pear, banana) bouquet.

DOCG Status since: 1993
Grape variety: moscato bianco
Maximum grape yield: 10 tons/ha
Color: straw to pale gold
Foam: fine and persistent
Nose: fragrant, floral, with hints of linden and acacia
Taste: delicately sweet, aromatic, well-balanced
Clarity: brilliant
Minimum potential alcohol content: 11.5 per cent by volume; minimum actual alcohol seven per cent by volume for Asti Dolce and approximately 11 per cent for the other styles from Demi-Sec to Pas Dosé

Moscato d’Asti

Moscato d’Asti DOCG

Following the recognition of the Asti Controlled and Guaranteed Designation of Origin (DOCG) status in 1993, Asti Spumante and Moscato d’Asti were identified as two different historical expressions of the same varietal. Moscato d’Asti DOCG is one of the most characteristic products of the Piedmontese wine tradition. The wine has a distinctively intense musky aroma of the grapes it is made from, a delicate flavour that is reminiscent of wisteria and linden, peach and apricot, with hints of sage, lemon and orange blossom. It has some residual sugar and a low alcohol content.

Moscato d’Asti DOCG is not technically or ostensibly a sparkling wine, as it only undergoes partial fermentation in pressure tanks. Fermentation is terminated when an alcohol content of about five per cent alcohol by volume is reached. The use of cold chain technology in the production process means the aromas and flavours of the grapes are preserved and the product can be stabilized, ready for storage and transportation.

DOCG Status since: 1993
Grape variety: moscato bianco
Maximum grape yield: 10 tons/ha
Colour: straw yellow
Foam: fine and persistent
Nose: fragrant, floral, with hints of sage
Taste: delicately sweet, aromatic, characteristic
Clarity: brilliant
Minimum potential alcohol content: 11 per cent by volume; minimum actual alcohol 4.5 per cent by volume

For Moscato d’Asti it begins, as it must, with weight and measurements. The math is straightforward: 100 kilograms of grapes is equal to 86 of must. The first press of moscato yields 15 per cent of that 86, or 13 kg. Often only a small percentage is used for the top cuvée. The rest of the must is kept at freezing temperature (approximately -2 degrees celsius) and there are producers that keep past vintages (generally up to four) for the production of their Moscato d’Asti wines. The DOCG rule says that a vintage dated wine must consist of 75 per cent must from that year’s production.

As for recent vintages, 2021 is certainly close to the top while 2020 is widely considered to be la crème de la crème. That said 2019 was not the most aromatic, like 2016, very hot and the moscato grape does not need too much sun. The grapes will dry out, burn, lose freshness and perfumes. From tasting the must you smell honey which proves the grapes are not perfectly mature. This is where the vision of using 25 per cent must from the three preceding vintages works to great advantage. Phenolic holes are filled, absent aromas are engaged and layers of intricacy are cast. Smell an example of 17 and note the exaggerated development, rich and full of glycerin, nearly cloying. The 2016s are certainly sweet and somewhat out of balance, but there is delicacy, floral notes and it’s never cloying. The ’18s are clearer, easier to comprehend, showing nary a trace of honey. The presence of white flowers and apricot in a wine lighter in hue and more delicate in mien speaks exactly to what producers are after. When fermentation happens those aromas increase by 80 per cent. There’s the rub and the magic. Special terroirs like Castiglione Tinella are the kind that breed some of the highest acidity for moscato. A pH that averages out at 3.4 when bottled will lower to 3.1, because this is when the acidity rises.

Consorzio dell’Asti

The Consorzio coordinates and promotes the area of origin of moscato bianco grapes, whose cultivation covers approximately 10,000 hectares across 51 municipalities of the provinces of Alessandria, Asti and Cuneo. There are 10,000 hectares of vineyards for these lightly sparkling, off-dry to sweet Asti white wines and the Consorzio is entrusted to promote and protect the wines in the appellation. They are widely imitated and so undertaking legal action and registering trademarks in every country is a necessary side-hustle of the job. In terms of producer requests, all changes and modifications applied for must be approved by the consortium. An integral aspect of the work involves field, vineyard as well as laboratory research. More than 1,400 ha have a gradient over 40 per cent, with 330 hectares of this area over 50 per cent. These are vineyards historically named sorì, where no mechanical equipment can be used and vines are tended exclusively by hand. The Asti DOCG hills were the first vineyard landscape to be included in the UNESCO World Heritage list.

Born in 1932, the Consortium for the Promotion of Asti has a clear mission: to perform all the necessary actions to protect, promote and enhance the value of Asti and Moscato d’Asti, in Italy and the world. The sustainable manifesto is clear and one day spent inside the offices of the Consortium will instruct and explain all you need to know about economic, social, environmental, export, security and what Italians refer to as disciplinare policies. Regulations regarding vineyard yields, levels of alcohol, sugar, extract and bars of pressure are so defined as to ensure current production and sales viability but also explicitly what the next generation will need to carry the work forward.

Moscato Bianco

The Consortium carries out technical assistance, draws up research proposals and economic assessments aimed at enhancing the value of the designation. It is there to protect and safeguard from improper use, unfair competition and counterfeiting, Asti’s officers carry out, on behalf of all those who are subject to the designation-related checks, the functions of protection, promotion and valourization, as well as informing consumers and generally looking after special interests. Policies are adopted regulating supply in order to contribute to improved coordination of the designation’s distribution on the market, through consultations with sector representatives. The consorzio plans for improving the quality of the products that must appear before judicial and administrative authorities, in Italy and abroad, in order to safeguard and protect the designation and defend the interests and rights of the producers. Surveillance actions are carried out, mainly in the distribution stage.

The Hills

The hills of the Langhe are elongated, with extended crests and steeper slopes, while those of the Monferrato are rounder and gentler to look upon. Two different landscapes, with infinite variations. Where life prospers among the orderly rows of grapevines, tended by hand as they have always been. Where the seasons bring new colors against the majestic crown of the Alps, where the horizon stretches out to infinity. Where every detail amazes and warms the heart, to be treasured forever. Un territorio Patrimonio dell’Umanità. Sedimentary soils that date back 10-15 million years predominate. One is the Pliocenic basin of Asti to the northeast. The to the west around Canelli there are Serravallian (Middle Miocene) soils, stratified layers of blue clay, sand and lime. Many believe this to be the best composition for Moscato d’Asti. To the east in the area of Strevi the ground is Tortonian (late Miocene), younger at five to 10 million years, with more clay and more lime in deeper layers and colour.

The crux of the varietal situation is twofold, at once for vineyards subsisting at the foot of the Alps and also drawing energy being proximate to the sea. Seventy-five per cent of the vineyards are directly protected by the mountains. As seemingly everywhere, climate is changing here too. In the last 15 years average temperatures have increased by one degree. In the past 58 years the average increase has been by two. More important are temperature abnormalities. The centrepiece moscato bianco is a very sensitive grape and easily subjected to diseases.

Guyot training is appropriate for poor quality soils and lower yields. Broken down by altitude, 44 per cent of the vineyards are at 250-300m and 30 per cent at 300-450m. In terms of slope, 2,770 of 9,700ha have a gradient higher than 30 per cent, 336 ha with a gradient of more than 50. “Heroic agriculture” is the moniker bestowed. “The Sorì vineyards.” No mechanization is employed and a certain crucial must is picking times, especially in terms of the preservation of moscato bianco’s aromatic compounds. Yields per hectare are set at 9.5 tonnes for Asti and Moscato d’Asti.

Moscato Vineyard

The Consortium’s Laboratorio Analisi for the Tutela dell’Asti DOCG is one of the most advanced and technologically impressive anywhere, with the mechanization capable of carrying out a diverse set of analyses. Under the guise of Guido Bezzo, who incidentally also happens to be a virtuoso trumpeter, the lab exerts its expertise far beyond pedestrian testing of alcohol, sugar and varietal purity. It delves deeper than mere organoleptic conclusions. The lab’s research works to investigate the impact analysis results for one 750 mL bottle of Asti wine covering categories that includes a mind-boggling set of parameters: Climate change; Reduction of the ozone layer; Toxicity and carcinogenic effects on humans; Particulate/smog caused by emissions of inorganic substances; Ionizing radiation effects on human inorganic health; Photochemical ozone formation; Acidification; Terrestrial, aquatic and marine eutrophication; Ecotoxicity in freshwater aquatic environments; Soil transformation; Resource depletion in water, minerals and fossils. Heady stuff indeed.

The 60,000 tonnes kept at negative four degrees in summer costs dearly in equipment and energy. It is widely believed that juice can stay in tank for up to two years without losing aromatic concentration. Fermentation takes place at 20 degrees in pressure tanks developed by Italian sparkling wine pioneer Dr. Federico Martinotti, director of the Research Institute for the Wine of Asti, who patented the method in 1895. Martinotti is credited with creating the method of developing the bubbles inside of tanks. The juice can stand pressures of more than 10 bars. Yeasts must be stopped abruptly (in a matter of a few hours) to avoid off odours and flavours, i.e rotten egg and cooked cabbage. Centrifuge and filters are used. In the past pasteurization at 50 degrees was the norm but now micro filtration screens out the yeast (at 0.2 microns) and stabilizes the wines. Agronomist/viticuilturalist Daniele Eberle also explains how Fratelli Gancia used the same techniques that the French used here in Piemonte in the late 1800s. The city of Canelli, cultural home of Asti holds the highest concentration of companies that make all the equipment necessary for bottling Spumante wines.

The association soon yielded positive results. Production gradually increased from two million bottles in the 1940s to forty million in the 1970s. A figure more than doubled nowadays. The history of the Consortium is all Piedmontese and begins from the town that is considered the capital par excellence of spumante: Canelli. It was in its cellars that, day after day, with dedication and affection, techniques were refined that nowadays give us a fine, delicate and unmistakeable sparkling wine like Asti DOCG. The know-how handed down for generations, together with the latest scientific discoveries, have led to the optimization of the production process and the definition of important procedures indispensable to guarantee the high quality of Asti DOCG.

Good to go!

godello

Twitter: @mgodello

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WineAlign

Always tasting Italian wines, doin’ allright

Jul5

Toscana

Back in the summer of 1987 I attended the Umbria Jazz Festival in Perugia. This was considered “the benchmark year for Umbria Jazz in terms of the Festival’s appeal, its quality, its ability to combine popularity with exclusivity, with mass concerts in the football stadium and the fantastic evenings inside St. Francis’ church.” The memories of that July 16th to 18th weekend are strong, persistently vivid and what happened there was clearly transformational in my life. Sting had played the weekend previous and though my crew could not stay long enough to see Miles Davis on Sunday the 18th still there were grand moments indelibly stamped upon our lives. Walking the Piazza IV Novembre up to Nicola and Giovanni Pisano’s Fontana Maggiore, drinking in the cafés, Sly and Robbie sitting at the next table. But the highlight happened at the Stadio Renato Curi where Dexter Gordon blew his horn and our minds. The saxophonist was fresh off of a revivalist’s record and hit movie. He was Doin’ Allright, as were we.

Jazz and wine. Two inextricably linked subjects and emotions in the summer of 1987. Now 35 years later I’m listening to Gordon’s seminal record and tasting wine. Time spent Far Niente. Tasting Italian wines from a wide ranging group of producers while paraphrasing from thoughts about the music of the OG big man, with no disrespect intended to Clarence Clemons. Dexter’s life and this group of wines are representative of that kind of size. Their rhythm section plays for the grape, seeming to sense what it wants, following the varietal lead and never falling out of balance. Full toned manner of wines, loping in medium tempo, solos unhurried, logical, warming and full of Italian melodies.

Umbria, July 1987

There are white wines that play beautifully and pensively while others pick up the mood by spinning out solos, staying texturally relaxed and thoughtful, ending with some perfumed chords. There are short bits and interludes but ultimately the way these wines handle their ballads is an indication of their length and depth. They know what it’s all about. The reds are at times wines of catchy and contrasting themes but they truly know how to build a solo. In today’s warming climate they climb up in temperature, chorus after chorus, until finally they satisfy at their apex. There are moments when the reds seem to be skipping and marching, alternating between funky riffs, leaping rhythmic figures and brightly lit burning flames of fruit and acidities. They build more slowly to climax while expanding in tones and for longer periods of time. There are chordal explorations in reds, blacks and of course blues. What connects them all is underlying substance in waves and weaves throughout each ensemble. Tasted consecutively or together theses wines all prove to be mutually significant. Thank you to Ira Gitler for the inspirational notes, to Stefania Tacconi and the prodcuers for sharing their wines.

Inama Vin Soave Classico DOC 2020, Veneto

Anything but entry-level from the grape garganega once known as Graecanicum grown in the basaltic lava, volcanic tuffs and orizzonti rossi. About as correct and defining as it gets for Soave, yellow and green floral, fruit recall more of the same and then the volcanic rock alterations that give the mineral-salty feel. While there might be a wish for a little bit more complexity and grape spirit there is some gelid to viscous texture in this 2020. In any case Inama’s is well made, educational and right on the varietal money. Drink 2022-2024. Tasted March 2022

Abrigo Giovanni Favorita DOC 2020, Piedmont

As for white wines from Italy’s northern climes there are those that speak to many and then there is the “favorita” of others, the varietal Piedmontese white for the dreamers and the romantics. This from Abrigo out of Diano d’Alba avoids the bitters, pith and boozy thiol moments to instead capture all the white flowers and more. The scents are fruity over metallic and clean instead of waxy. There is precision and most importantly a toothsome grace over the palate that brings you back for more and more. A picnic in the hills, a chilled glass after the day’s movement and the scent of dusk. That is favorita when it’s right. Drink 2022-2024. Tasted March 2022

Terra Costantino Etna Bianco DOC Deaetna 2019, Sicily

Terra Costantino’s is from Contrada Blandano in the Comune Viagrande, on soils sabbie di matrice vulcanica, a blend of carricante and catarratto, three to one, at 500m, part bush vine and part spurred cordon. Were the flinty smoulder the only beautiful thing going for this Etna Bianco it might almost be enough but the gelid and sweetly ripened fruit takes every moment to a higher caste and level. The thought of these wines being honeyed is not all that common and yet he we are, aromatically speaking, lemon meringue and curd, angel food cake, with the barrel impart knowable in vanilla and light caramel terms. A metallic feel as well, pure platinum gold, texture and some age already put behind. Not so typical but curious and highly enjoyable nonetheless. A drink now chardonnay or chenin blanc alternative that will begin to oxidize in a couple of years time. Drink 2022-2024. Tasted May 2022

Poggio Argentiera Morellino Di Scansano DOCG Bellamarsilia 2020, Tuscany

High-toned in 2020 with a marked level of volatile acidity and good if not maximum ripeness from sangiovese grown either in a (relatively) cooler year near the (Maremma) Tuscan coast. It would seem the winemaker is also looking for restraint and maintaining positive acidity because at this low level (13.5 per cent) of alcohol the resinous and stemmy nature of sangiovese is duly noted, if also accentuated. Texture is a bit chalky, almost grainy and the tannins throw a touch of green. Drink 2022-2023. Tasted May 2022

Usiglian Del Vescovo Il Barbiglione 2015, Terre Di Pisa DOC, Tuscany

From estate grapes in the Pisa DOC and from a winery also producing wines both coastal and in Chianti appellations. Centred around syrah with small percentages of cabernet grown in greyish, dry, shallow, sandy soil with some clay, lime and fossils. A bright, currants and other red fruit syrah with notable tang and wood resins. A touch pectin sappy while satisfying and complete. Held back to tame its wild side and drink upon purchase. Drink 2022-2024. Tasted June 2022

La Regola 2018, Toscana Rosso IGT

A place of Etruscan origin just five kms from the Tyrrhenian Sea at Riparbella in the Cecina Valley. The vineyard lays within the Montescudaio DOC at 150-200m with soils described as Mediterranean with an abundance of stones. La Regola’s (the rule) is varietal cabernet franc, abundant, heady and as compared to the blended reds, so unfettered and uncluttered. The varietal purity is expressly coastal, of saltiness, algae, seaweed, tar and fruit so much more than a plenty. This is truly a stylistic and a place that makes wines just like this here screaming with clarity and truth. There seems to be little doubt that cabernet franc fits, unlike sangiovese, syrah or cabernet sauvignon. Franc is the signature red and 2018 announces its success. The structure, unimpeded drive and length confirm the pronouncement. Drink 2024-2029. Tasted June 2022

Boscarelli Vino Nobile De Montepulciano DOCG 2019, Tuscany

Boscarelli is a name to conjure with, a producer from Montepulciano as direct and exciting as a communicator of sangiovese emotion as any, consistently declarative in attack. Case in point this 2019 though with the added advantage of a most generous and unselfish vintage. Fruit comes from estate vineyards in the parish or pieve of Cervognano, one of 12 newly minted UGAs, a.k.a. unità geografiche aggiuntive. These additional mentions for the overall appellation give us the consumer a more pinpointed sense of place and in Boscarelli’s world the vines were planted in the late 1990s. Depth burrows in an endless seeking of mineral wealth while highlights rise unencumbered, defying gravity and setting this local sangiovese free. When sangiovese does both it’s a bit of a revelation and in Montepulciano the truth is not always easy to come by. The wines can make you work for your pleasure and this 2019 gifts it freely. Drink now and for the next 10 years. Drink 2022-2028. Tasted May 2022

Il Bocale Montefalco Rosso DOC 2018, Umbria

The Umbrian work of i famiglia Valentini based around sangiovese accented by the local sagrantino, then merlot and colorino. Unequivocally balanced if not quite the increasingly generous vintage that will follow in 2019. The succulence and juiciness of the Montefalco Rosso appellation is captured with precise and succinct advantage and done so without any due stress or adversity. The fruit spreads with ripples into fine acidity and supple tannins like a large rock dropped into a pool of water. The rock disappears but the fluidity and gentle set of wakes linger on, ever so slowly decreasing their size and intensity. Bocale’s ’18 is an effortless Rosso, aromatic, flavourful and elastic. This is just what a top producer knows how to do. Drink 2022-2025. Tasted June 2022

Il Bocale Montefalco Sagrantino DOCG 2016, Umbria

From the Valentini family dating back to 2002 and a varietal sagrantino of the highest selection. “Bocale is the dialect word that indicates the two litre mug of wine or oil, but, above all, the name with which this family from Montefalco has always been identified.” From the most democratic of Montefalco vintages, long, studious and just, indeed a wine giusto e completo, time having settled the once formidable tannin and connecting the early unconnected parts. A wholly unique profile, indicative of tar, dark chocolate and espresso yet subtly so, with an allowance of many complexities to join the parade. Quite special in so many regards. Drink 2022-2026. Tasted April 2022

Il Palio, Siena, July 1987

Riecine Chianti Classico DOCG 2019, Tuscany

Grande Gaiole compass, cinch and girth in naturally swarthy sangiovese from Riecine in 2019, crunchy and tart. Inching up towards the volatile but such is the word in pace for the vintage. The fruit can handle the stark reality and veritable truth, equipped with grip and ready for the inevitable circumstance. Maybe wait a year for further resolution. Drink 2023-2027. Tasted February 2022

Villa Di Capezzana Carmignano DOCG 2017, Tuscany

Consistently presents with an evolved aromatic tendency as it breathes maturity into every phrase it plays. The jazzy mix of violet, spice cupboard and freshly baked earthenware speaks in open and knowable truth for a wine so upwardly representative of a DOCG with roots dating back to 1716. That is when Cosimo III de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany granted exclusive status to Carmignano at the same time he did so for the Classico territory of Chianti. Was not the easiest vintage to deal with and yet this is one of the Tuscan stars what with the piquant yet elastic spice condition rolling off of the palate with sage, fresh tobacco, finnocchi and tartufo. Deals with 14.5 per cent alcohol without adversity while modelling symbiosis between sangiovese and cabernet sauvignon. Hard to do much better with the aridity and warmth, breathe life and plan for five-plus more years of pleasure. Drink 2022-2026. Tasted June 2022

Azienda Agricola Reassi Sparviere 2018, Colli Euganei Cabernet DOC, Veneto

Reassi’s two-thirds cabernet sauvignon and one-third cabernet franc comes from the Padova area in the Veneto, famously home to some of Giotto’s most profound and important 13th/14th century frescoes housed in the Cappella degli Scrovegni. The estate’s 1997 planted wines are located in the zone of Carbonara di Rovolon, harvested near the end of September and only 3,500 bottles are produced. This is a cheeky cabernet at the lead for the Colli Euganei DOC, full of sweet tar and tobacco, petrol in cars, wood resins, fruit from pods that grown on trees and really quite bright in disposition. How can you not adore the vitality and low alcohol proposition (12.5 per cent) plus this genteel pectin and glycerol feel. “Oh, it’s magic, Uh oh, it’s magic. Just a little magic, you know it’s true.” Drink 2022-2025. Tasted May 2022

Abrigo Giovanni Barbera d’Alba DOC Marminela 2019, Piedmont

At the DOC Barbera level it would be hard to find another example so open, forthright, up front, bright, getable and delicious than this Marminela by Abrigo. Classic interpretation indeed yet without rustic strings tethering it to the past, instead expressive of a freedom to explore. Here barbera throws aside traditions in a spirit of experimentation. This is a blend of grapes from two vineyards in the municipalities of Grinzane Cavour and Diano d’Alba and aging takes place for nine months in concrete vats. Freshness is dutifully captured, preserved and the barbera perseveres. Will drink this way for two, maybe even three full years ahead. Drink 2022-2025. Tasted June 2022

Abrigo Giovanni Barbera D’alba Superiore DOC Rocche Dei Frisu 2018, Piedmont

Rocche dei Frisu is Abrigo’s top end, purest expression of barbera, from vineyards in Diano d’Alba and also nearby. The sites range in elevation between 230-360m, on clay-based soils mixed with sand and limestone, depending on the block. The name could mean “cones of frieze” in the literal sense but probably a name given to a hill of natural architecture that when looked at from afar there would be some sort of illusory effect. As in art, whereby a trompe l’oeuil or trick of the eye is created by a broad horizontal band of sculpted or painted decoration. In any case the barbera in this bottle does the exact opposite with its openly blatant and striking set of ripe fruit, varietal acidity and full throttle potency. Not shy to be sure, nor heavy neither but there is power contained within this bottle. Even after nearly four years the Frisu does not relent and as a member of the Alba Superiore fraternity the representation is bang on. Plenty of stuffing will see this through to the end of this decade. Drink 2022-2028. Tasted May 2022

Abrigo Giovanni Nebbiolo d’Alba DOC 2019, Piedmont

Marked valuation in animal musk through the masculine scent of Abrigo’s nebbiolo from Diano d’Alba, a parochial example equally rich in classic DOC notes. Only the nebbiolo from Alba’s territory smells and tastes like this, accentuated by wood with spice infiltration inside and out. The animal magnetism is captivating, as much as the barrel accents are condiments to the fruit and earth that fill up this nebbiolo. Quite tight for 2019, needing some time, acids equally taut and being open three days helped immensely. Be patient with this Alba, it will reward those who are. Drink 2024-2028. Tasted June 2022

Abrigo Giovanni Barolo DOCG Ravera 2017, Piedmont

Diano d’Alba producer of a Barolo in the municipality/cru/MGA of Novello. Meets the specs of Tortonian soil, laminated Sant’Agata fossil marl, in other words calcareous clay, deeply entrenched, at 400m, vine age ranging 20 to 35 years. Fifty per cent is treated to long skin maceration i.e. cappello sommerso and despite the aridity and heat of 2017 there is freshness captured in Abrigo’s Ravera. Luminous and immediately spicy, a piquancy of pure nebbiolo spiked by time, vintage and lastly barrel. Amazingly persistent Barolo, full, substantial and in charge. Must give this three more years to integrate and allow us to grow as tasters, eventually to be ready and willing to enjoy this wine. Drink 2025-2032. Tasted June 2022

Tenuta Di Pietrafusa Villa Matilde Avallone Fusonero 2015, Taurasi DOCG, Campania

Varietal aglianico from the Taurasi DOCG and a producer that also fashions top quality wines at IGT Campania prices coming in at under $20 CDN. This top drop comes from the production zone of Montemarano e Paternopoli off of vines planted in 1968 and 1985. The first commercial vintage was 2004 and so here in the 12th iteration is a most generous vintage from which the best of all worlds is accessed. The world of aglianico is reached earlier than that which hesitantly emerges out of some hard, at times sufferable and surely tannic vintages. Here the fruit is nearly up front, artistically open and and even playing with musical swagger. There is room for all the aglianico because they provide the opportunity to enjoy the standards, originals and forward thinking examples. Fusonero is a delightful combination of all three and for that we are grateful. Drink 2023-2029. Tasted June 2022

Good to go!

godello

Tuscany

Twitter: @mgodello

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WineAlign

Yearning for the Langhe

Jan4

Godello in Cherasco

My kingdom for an Albese plate of Tajarin at Osteria dei Sognatori or a platter of Plin at Ristorante La Libera. What a wine writer would not do for a Langhe reprise, a Piedmontese redux, a tasting of any Barolo, Barbaresco, Roero, Dogliani, Alba or Langhe Barbera and Nebbiolo, Langhe Roero Arneis, Na’Scetta e Favorita. Were things normal and they most certainly are not, but were life being lived now as it was one year ago we would be convening in Alba in two weeks time. What I would not give to break bread with a winemaker, colleague or friend in Piemonte.

Mark these words. The two specialized and specific DOCs of Nebbiolo d’Alba and Langhe Nebbiolo will gain prominence and become a two-headed beast in 2021. The world will gather to exult, raise up and drink these fine and vastly underrated examples of classified nebbiolo. Of this I became truly privy to one year ago but also throughout 2020 as more and more nebbiolo came to be assessed across my desk. Yes it was back in January 2020 when I travelled to Alba in Piemonte for Nebbiolo Prima 2020 and Grandi Langhe. I tasted more than 600 nebbiolo, dolcetto, barbera, arneis, freisa, chardonnay, pelaverga and even riesling during the eight day work staycation. Grande.

Grandi Langhe 2020

Nebbiolo Prima and Grandi Langhe Trade Fair are a back-to-back cumulative by the work of many, not the least of which are organizations such as Consorzio Albeisa, a.k.a Unione Produttori Vini Albesi, Consorzio di Tutela Barolo Barbaresco Alba Langhe e Dogliani, Consorzio Tutela del Roero and Regione Piemonte. During that trip I tasted and reviewed 230 Barolo: DOCG 2016 (197), Riserva DOCG 2014 (6), DOCG 2006 (20) and Riserva DOCG 2004 (7). For Barbaresco the number was 92: DOCG 2017 (59), DOCG 2015 (15), DOCG 2015, 2007, 2009 and 2005 (18). As for Roero DOCG, 38 notes: DOCG 2017 and 2016 (33) and DOCG 2006 and 2007 (5).

Here’s to hoping for a return at any point in 2021, or in 2022 for the 25th Nebbiolo Prima followed by Grandi Langhe, if that’s how it will be. In the meantime here are 44 further reviews of wines tasted in and around Alba back in January, 2020. Langhe Nebbiolo DOC, Nebbiolo d’Alba DOC, Barolo DOCG, Barbaresco DOCG, Barbera d’Alba DOCG, Verduno Pelaverga DOC, Langhe Nascetta Del Comune Di Novello DOC, Langhe Favorita DOC, Roero Arneis DOC, Langhe Rosato DOC, Vino Rosso and Birbét. Care Langhe, spero di tornare presto.

Nebbiolo d’Alba DOC

Diego Morra Nebbiolo d’Alba DOC 2016

F.rom northern facing vineyards that receive no direct sun so essentially a cool Langhe climate. Nebbiolo that sees a short maceration and French wood. Not your everyday or expected nebbiolo in a really light and transparent style. Extremely fresh and refreshing, taut, high-toned and yet this creamy texture. Richer than half-and-half, perhaps like 20 per cent fat though lactose free and not enough to be whipped. So different. Drink 2020-2023. Tasted January 2020

Malabaila Di Canale 1362 Nebbiolo d’Alba Doc Bric Merli 2017

From the vineyard directly in front of Bric Volta. A lighter, but far from unstructured nebbiolo with a new and certain grace and still unmistakeable Canale DNA. Here you can mark another reference point, not to mention the genetic and torch passing material provided by 650 years of history, information and accumulation in experience. The demeanour is confident and gracious. Who would not want a glass every night? Drink 2020-2024. Tasted January 2020

Mauro Sebaste Nebbiolo d’Alba DOC Parigi 2017

Comes from the same type of marly soil as the barbera, here out of vineyards located in the villages of Alba and Diano d’Alba. The vines are around 20 years of age and the wine sees one year in (30 per cent new) American 40L and French 30L barrels. The idea is to draw out soft and elegant tannins, especially by the American oak. That much is true in a nebbiolo heading towards that direction though not quite yet there. A return in two to three years should do the trick. Drink 2021-2024. Tasted January 2020

Nebbiolo Langhe DOC

Elvio Cogno Nebbiolo Langhe DOC Montegrilli’ 2018

A name taken from Valter Fissore’s grandfather’s vineyard in the Roero, not Barolo and yes this is a nebbiolo and a wine to drink. Immediately gratifying in so many ways. From vineyards on the other side of Novello, southwest exposure and very sandy soil with just a minor amount of sandstone. Fragolina di bosco and white raspberry, a juicy wine that can quench your thirst. Just a minor grip and chalk of tannin. Hardly causes any confusion and allows you to sip and sip and sip. Grill some fish and Montegrilli’s your friend. Drink 2020-2025. Tasted January 2020

Mauro Molino Nebbiolo Langhe DOC 2018 ($27.95, Le Sommelier Inc.)

From two vineyards, one in La Morra (estate) and one in Roero. Less than a year in old, large barrels and a purposeful one, for early and often drinking enjoyment. Bright fruit, easy, forward and will surely solicit many a happy palate for dual-drawn, doubling down pleasure. Floral, well made and proper. Drink 2020-2023. Tasted January 2020

Bollito Misto, Sinio

Azienda Agricola Taverna Langhe Nebbiolo DOC 2018

Declassified nebbiolo from Barbaresco with mildly candied fruit, slightly oxidative, but charming. Only been in bottle maximum one month. Drink 2020. Tasted February 2020

Sottimano Langhe Nebbiolo DOC 2018 (454017, $32.95, Le Maitre de Chai)

Youngest vines in the Basarin Vineyard at 18 years old grown in sand and clay at the foot of Neive. The Langhe nebbiolo sees 20-30 days on skins (as opposed to 30-40 for the Barbaresco), ferments naturally and at low temperatures. Glaring as a vintage with a big grin on its face, unprecedented concentration, healthy extraction and completed by elevated dry extract. Incredible intensity for the appellation, something already noted in 2015 but bears repeating, like a mantra, for kicks, compliments, giggles and kudos. The Piedmontese maceration brings so much texture and chromatic accents; tangerine, vermillion, sorrel and umber. Longer maceration, less wood (four months) and no love lost for aging, not to mention waxing rhapsodically on. Drink 2021-2026. Tasted January 2020

Osteria dei Sognotori, Alba

Barolo DOCG

Agricola Marrone Barolo DOCG Pichemej 2015

Pichmej is a combination of two vineyards, Bussia and Santa Maria, what Valentina and sister’s Serena and Denise Marrone call “our grandfather’s wine.” Who happened to be Carlo. A nebbiolo that you really can drink now but then again that’s the thing about young Marrone Barolo. They and this ’15 Pichmej display a sense of the ethereal in their youth. Nature in conjunction with nurture, a delicate touch and phenolic regulation to near perfection. If you would like to access the portal into the reality of how nebbiolo needs to be made in modern times then begin right here and know what’s what in 2020. Drink 2020-2026. Tasted January 2020

Agricola Marrone Barolo DOCG Bussia 2015

Compared to Pichmej this nebbiolo from Bussia is a step up in concentration and also structure, the latter being in kinship with Bussia 2016. That said there is absolutely zero compromise to the stylistic execution that makes for a Marrone Barolo. Simulates the phenolic beauty of Pichmej and of ’16 but the fullest, deepest and most complete journey happens here. Enologist Donato Lanati has coaxed the fruit but not the bitters while the sisters Marrone find excellence in completing Bussia and all the rest. Lightness of being is also accrued while the wine clocks in at a hidden 15 per cent alcohol. Magic happens and success follows. Drink 2021-2029. Tasted January 2020

Cascina Adelaide Barolo DOCG Baudana 2015

From Serralunga d’Alba and the apposite Barolo cru, forceful, grippy, demanding, always mired in posit tension tug. That alone explains no differing opinion but pay attention to the kind of “tensione” Adelaide’s creates. The numbered beats are off, out of time, or at least not understood in fours, yet orchestrated and aligned as they should be. As in five or taking the fifth, with a spoonful of notes, lines, vocalizations and structural arrangements feeling like they are unanswered. A vintage that men are dumbfounded by but girls can tell. Baudana is a hyper real get together of brushy aromas, dedicated flavours and highly functional architecture. This one stretches and creates an elastic musculature, flexible and persistent. Wouldn’t mess with Baudana. Drink 2020-2031. Tasted January 2020

Simone Ortale and Giuliana Drocco, Cascina Adelaide

Cascina Adelaide Barolo Riserva DOCG “Per Elen” 2014

A blend of two cru and says Simone Ortale “we choose the best to make Riserva. It’s our jewel.” The same grandi botti (as per Preda and Cannubi) but here 62 months of aging time. The most mouthfeel, filling and the silkiest chalky liquidity, tannins and layering of multifarious, mille-feuille multiplicity. A nebbiolo for the decades. Drink 2022-2035. Tasted January 2020

Cascina Boschetti Barolo DOCG Gomba 2015

A smooth, elastic, stretched and elongated nebbiolo from the Commune of Barolo and Boschetti’s estate fruit. Drawn off of the higher reaches and also some that is sold to Marchesi di Barolo. Drink 2020-2025. Tasted January 2020

Cascina Boschetti Barolo Riserva DOCG Sernìe 2015

Sernìe is the cru inside the cru, a selection within the selection and a word in Piedmontese dialect that essentially means just that. Surely the richer, more concentrated, fully stretched, entirely elastic and truly elongated nebbiolo. Has the violets, purple fruit, foie gras and decadence. Drink 2021-2032. Tasted January 2020

Cascina Boschetti Barolo Riserva DOCG Sernìe 2012

This older version of the cru within the cru comes from a very select parcel and as an estate flagship nebbiolo is only produced in select vintages. The formidable 2012 season made a request that winemakers (in this case Maurizio Delpero) did not try to extract too much fruit which would also mean an excess of tannin. Yet Boschetti’s Sernìe was subjected to a Piedmontese 40-day maceration (a cappello sommerso), a classic technique that eight years later establishes an exaggeration of nebbiolo riches. Was also a generous vintage that saw to healthy fruit and quantity. Serious Barolo right here. Drink 2020-2030. Tasted January 2020

Crudo – La Libera, Alba

Diego Morra Barolo DOCG 2015

From the river between La Morra and Verduno, two plots with separate soils and expositions to combine for a double cru cause and effect. Balanced and dynamic, a nose of power meeting finesse. No winding or cinching but more a zig-zagging, ying versus yang, AC-DC, nebbiolo going both ways. Lovely spice. Drink 2021-2026. Tasted January 2020

Diego Morra Barolo DCOG Monvigliero 2015

From four hectares in the Verduno cru and the three Ms, Mosca, La Morra and Monvigliero. The V in the middle is for Verduno. The 2015 nebbiolo is a really pretty one, floral and understated but of obvious power. Near formidable in its restraint with bursting a real possibility at any near moment. Not quite there yet but it’s coming, it’s real, leaving meaning. “In a room made of stone your future was made.” Wait for it. Drink 2022-2029. Tasted January 2020

Elvio Cogno Barolo DOCG Bricco Pernice 2015

Ages three years in wood, one year further in barrel. One hundred per cent Lampia clone. A little bit more classic in terms of what is Barolo. The partridge is a special hill and a place that gives away these highly specialized nebbioli and 2015 is on the border between a red and a black vintage. More black then red. A vintage that will be so right and so joyous in middle age and ideal for salty (aged) cheese and meat. Splendido nebbiolo. Drink 2022-2029. Tasted January 2020

With Valter Fissore

Elvio Cogno Barolo Ravera DOCG Vigna Elena 2014

Rosa clone of Ravera, not quite yet released (will be in three months), dedicated to daughter Elena. A registered menzione geografica named many years ago so the size on the label is set above the DOCG. More of a Bourgogne style. Rose petals and potpourri. Red fruit and red citrus so obviously a red year. Cured like salumi, bresaola maybe or at least eat some alongside. A touch vegetal and that is ’14, sun-dried vegetable and yes, like pinot noir. The first vintage was 1997. Drink 2024-2036. Tasted January 2020

The quality of the wines gives everyone at Mauro Sebaste every reason to smile

Mauro Sebaste Barolo DOCG Cerretta 2015

Less weight and density in 2015, both in Serralunga fruit and also tannin. Much interest here in how it intimates the richesse of ’16 but not the youthful aggression of the tannin. More freshness, linearity and understanding. No hard edges, really easy to like and enjoy and enough grip to see it develop nicely over the next seven plus years. Might even last longer than imagined. Drink 2020-2027. Tasted January 2020

Mauro Sebaste Barolo Riserva DOCG Ghè 2014

Ghè is the Riserva of Cerretta fruit but only the smallest berries are chosen. A mega clonal version per se, a Cerretta of Ceretta. Celebrates and argues the merits of a challenging vintage, spends 36 months in tonneaux and like the Cerretta there is pure and substantial fruit. Acidity and tannin too, more than you might imagine considering the wood. Tension and grace live side by side and this is just beginning to act like it will for its essential and optimum 10 year window. Drink 2020-2029. Tasted January 2020

Palladino Barolo Del Commune Di Serralunga d’Alba DOCG 2016

A true commune Barolo drawn off of a scattering of vineyards, a Serralunga liqueur warming, comforting and reliable, plus a vintage tannin more stringent and yet to crack. Spent two years in grandi botti plus six further months in bottle. Of roses and tar, youthfulness and tension aboard a nicely balanced and upright frame. Drink 2021-2029. Tasted January 2020

Palladino Barolo Riserva DOCG San Bernardo 2013

The “oriental plot,” from the other side of the Ornato cru and a nebbiolo to speak of extended elévage just as it should. Now into a balsamico cadence and a tartufo lilt. A matter of funghi, acciuga and back to that truffled sensibility. So much umami, the anchovy sitting like a salty and briny slice of maritime butter on toasted crostini with shavings both pencil and earthen nuggets in origin. Oh how the feeling of the block and the greater Piedmontese emanates from one glass of Barolo that only San Bernardo seems capable of gifting. The secondary nature of this nebbiolo is astonishing, if like Christmas come early but why not celebrate now? Should keep developing, morphing, giving again and again. Drink 2020-2030. Tasted January 2020

Renato Ratti Barolo DOCG Marcenasco 2004 (713479, Halpern Enterprises)

Has quite obviously rounded into form, now beautifully rich and preserved. Poured from magnum yet showing all of its age, fruit sweetly hanging in the balance and as a whole an elegant nebbiolo worthy of the reference. Drink 2020-2024. Last tasted January 2020

Of the famiglie Pola e Ferro is polar as compared to the non of the Burdin. AM and D nose “car exhaust.” I am tricked by its charm and think New World Syrah, but am reminded that the colour lacks gloom. Hugely muscular, girded by plastron and decades ahead of itself. “Leave it open all night and it’ll be amazing” says Dr. C. Tasted April 2012

Cherasco

Barbaresco DOCG

Azienda Agricola Taverna Barbaresco DOCG 2017

Comes from one vineyard, the top part of the hill, Gaia Principe it’s called, one of four that make Barbaresco in the MGA. Quick maceration, only seven days, not very Piedmontese and because the house tradition is to make wines to drink and drink now. A very fresh nebbiolo, sweetly perfumed, clear, pure and precise. Drink this most days. No good reason not to. Drink 2020-2025. Last tasted February 2020

Very ripe and organized, developed and heading forward with great haste. Acids are brighter than some so there is light streaking through the Neive vintage darkness. Another example that speaks to the great variability in 2017. Drink 2020-2024. Barrel Sample tasted January 2020

Barbera d’Alba DOCG

Cascina Adelaide Vigna Preda Barbera d’Alba 2016

Same vineyard as the nebbiolo for the Preda Barolo but here the barbera fruit is notable deeper and darker. Spends up to 18 months in big barrel and high acidity for Alba with just the right and deft touch of necessary volatile acidity. Rich, luxurious and lovely. Drink 2020-2024. Tasted January 2020

Cascina Adelaide Barbera D’alba Superiore Docg Amabilin 2016

Named after the creator himself Amabile Drocco who as a child was called Amabilin. The name chosen for the wine pays homage to the family’s origins. The yields are ridiculously low (half a kilo per vine) from 3,000 kg per hectare that represents half of the consorzio’s disciplanare rule. So concentrated and a true gem in the Adelaide portfolio, in fact this is truly one of the tops in all of what is labeled Superiore. Includes eight to ten per cent Barolo fruit but not that which might end up as DOC Nebbiolo. High acidity again (as with the Preda) and ultra special tannins. Only 2000-2300 bottles are produced. Drink 2021-2029. Tasted January 2020

Diego Morra Barbera d’Alba DOCG 2016

Roddi is the source and direct sun exposure provided for a terroir-varietal relationship that is necessary when you consider acidity rates, ripeness measurements and structural assets. Here barbera gets into beneficial bitters, speaks with assuring alacrity and extolls the virtue of a mainly steely exterior. Really spirited, fresh and alive. Drink 2020-2024. Tasted January 2020

Elvio Cogno Barbera d’Alba DOC Bricco Dei Merli 2017

Single vineyard, aged for one year in wood. The hilltop of the blackbird and a wine nosing succinctly of black cherry. No way this is simply the wine of the osteria or the honky tonk bar. The maturation here is set so high on both fronts, first sugar and then phenolic. Acidity is supportive and there is no burn. There is no jam. What shows is body strength, spirit and a soft finish. Comes from elevation where the wind blows and you can feel the cool breeze running in the veins, like cool water. Picked late September and we are thankful for that. Drink 2021-2026. Tasted January 2020

The view from Elvio Cogno

Elvio Cogno Barbera d’Alba DOC Pre Phylloxera 2018

Pre-Phylloxera because of these barbera vines’ ability to survive with thanks to sandy soil and 500m of elevation. A red soil that was not inhabitable to the louse. The vineyard is rented from Marcarini and Valter likes to farm it to to keep the history of his family’s work alive. Lower acidity, higher concentration and an affinity with northern Rhône syrah. Cool, smooth, silky, crystal clear and the pinnacle of barbera beauty. Incredible texture. Only 2,000 bottles made. Drink 2021-2029. Barrel Sample tasted January 2020

Lucrezia Carrega Malabaila

Malabaila Di Canale 1362 Barbera d’Alba DOC Giardono 2018

From a single vineyard, eight yearsold and aged in concrete, for a reductive environment and more important a low, natural and slow ferment. A rich deep cherry barbera to be fair, sure and completely honest with a modernity of acidity that belies the reasons why barbera fell out of favour and became hard to sell. This will do the yeoman work to continue the resurrection. A spice market from a time gone by connects Giardino to a loyal and traditional wine. Drink 2020-2025. Tasted January 2020

Malabaila Di Canale 1362 Barbera D’alba DOC Mezzavilla 2015

From 75 year-old vines in the Mezzavilla Vineyard, located between the villages of Cisterna (towards Asti) and Canale. Just a few percentage points of oak because the fruit demands it and concrete will keep freshness but doesn’t quite do enough for this fruit. Such a soothing acidity and a presence that speaks to the sand and the clay of the land from whence it came. Taste this fruit and you will understand. Drink 2020-2022. Tasted January 2020

Mauro Molino Barbera d’Alba Doc “Legattere®”‎ 2017 ($24.95, Le Sommelier Inc.)

A selection of barbera vineyards of soils calcareous/clayey, maceration of six days, fermented in steel, aged in French oak. Just a classic, pure red fruit, high acid and smooth texture/tannins. Round flavours, big yet somehow understated. Drink 2020-2023. Tasted January 2020

Mauro Sebaste Barbera d’Alba Superiore DOCG Centobricchi 2016

On the hill just above Alba on the way to Serralunga, of low yields that produce just about one bunch per vine. Spends one year in new French oak to gift spice, savour, silk and palate fineness. High acidity, at times too high but necessary to foil the hedonism. A piqued and plentiful barbera that in the end comes down to farming. Drink 2021-2026. Tasted January 2020

Palladino Barbera d’Alba Superiore DOCG Bricco delle Olive 2017

Big barbera, 15 months in (50 per cent new) tonneaux with violets and spice smothering all else. Despite the enormity of it all this is barbera in a balanced varietal world and Bricco delle Viole is clearly a Superiore terroir from which to approach with great ambition. All assets are encouraged and flaunted within the grand scale of this particular Alba spectrum. Will improve with some further wood integration. Drink 2021-2025. Tasted January 2020

Azienda Agricola Taverna Barbera d’Alba DOC 2018

The red fruit juiciest and most succulent Barbera d’Alba with great acids. Make you wish more varietal wines like this would align, draft and glide alongside. Fresh and just lovely. Drink 2020-2023. Tasted February 2020

Verduno Pelaverga DOC

Diego Morra Pelaverga DOC 2018

Diego Morra’s pelaverga ’18 is clear, concise and pure, lying with a varietal heart at its most effusive. Prim as is imaginable while a big expression for a light and silken grape. From a “normal,” manageable and consistent vintage. A wine executed with molecular gastronomy to an end forged by a grape-wine relationship. Social, artistic and technical pelaverga, investigating the physical and chemical transformations of ingredients that occur in farming and then, winemaking. Drink 2020-2024. Tasted January 2020

Vino Rosso

Malabaila Di Canale 1362 Donna Costanza Cardunaj Vino Rosso 2017

A digestif wine, a Brachetto vinified dry and so curious. A dessert wine with no fizz and just a touch of sweetness. A moment’s Amaro bitters but no sense of liqueur. Odd to be sure. Drink 2020-2022. Tasted January 2020

Método Classico Vino Spumante Di Qualita

Malabaila Di Canale 1362 Pas Dosè Método Classico Vino Spumante Di Qualita

A 50-50 nebbiolo and arneis mix, seven years on the lees, from the 2012 vintage and disgorged in October 2019. Yes you read this properly, seven years on lees. The Malabaila connection to the Esterhazy royalty in Austrian indirectly bridges two estates and you can’t help but think about the Blanc de Blancs made in the Burgenland. Zero dosage means lean, direct, sharp and energetic bubbles with remarkable precision. These are Grandi Langhe bubbles from Roero, not to be missed. First vintage was 2010. Can’t be Millesimato because it’s a blend. Drink 2020-2025. Tasted January 2020

Langhe Rosato DOC

Malabaila Di Canale 1362 Langhe Rosato DOC 2018

From Lucrezia Carrega Malabaila with perfectly typical Rosato colour for nebbiolo taken from Roero lands. ’Tis a coppery hue, sexy rusty, mimicked in flavours with a note like lemon tisane. Steep in some currants and sweet herbs and you get the picture. Poured from magnum and good thing because a table of six would have otherwise gone very thirsty. Drink 2020-2022. Tasted January 2020

Langhe Nascetta Del Comune Di Novello DOC

Elvio Cogno Langhe Nascetta Del Comune Di Novello DOC Anas Cëtta 2019

Cold stabilization and some wood aging but in botti, no longer in barriques. I have yet to put the nose to my glass and the aromatics are coming out. A semi-aromatic grape with here in 2019 from peach, elderflowers and high level acidity. I would imagine it’s most akin to chenin but even that is a stretch. The drinkability meeting complexity is off the charts. Once you go tactile-textile nascetta like this you may never go back. Approximately 16,000 bottles produced. One of now 30-plus producers in the Langhe. Barrel Sample tasted January 2020. Drink 2020-2023

Le Strette Nas-cëtta Langhe DOC Pasinot 2018

Nascetta, or Nas-cëtta, as they say in the commune of Novello with fruit out of Pasinotti, Bergera, Pezzole and Tarditi at altitudes of 350 to 420m. Planted over many decades, in 1948, 1983, 2009, 2014 and 2016. The Piedmontese grape rarity likes the sandy, calcareous clay and its emission is semi-aromatic. This example sits somewhere between riesling and gewürztraminer though truth be told seems closer to friulano what with its glycerin and off-dry sentimentality. Novello is the place and the heights help bring about the oiliness and preserved citrus notes from the grape. Needs another year to fully bloom. Drink 2021-2025. Tasted January 2020

Langhe Favorita DOC

Malabaila Di Canale 1362 Langhe Favorita DOC Donna Costanza 2018

A label made by Lucrezia’s father (who passed away in 2010) for his wife and her mother. Endemic, full of drive, a touch of a sweetness and in a way a cool, northern example that is linked to inzolia, or even zibbibo. More texture here and alloy notation. Lingers with herbs and sweet citrus. Drink 2020-2022. Tasted January 2020

Roero Arneis DOC

Malabaila Di Canale 1362 Roero Arneis DOC Pradaj 2018

Pradaj in Piedmontese is “A valley with grass and flowers” and clearly a reference to the aromatics in the grape variety from this place. A perfectly correct and referenced arneis indeed and an ideal match to the local Plin agnolotti filled with herbs. When the arneis from Roero speaks clearly it does so like this, unadorned, floral and calm. Drink 2020-2022. Tasted January 2020

Birbét

Malabaila Di Canale 1362 Birbét Donna Costanza 2018

Mosta d’Uva parzialmente fermentato or, grape must partially fermented to five point five per cent alcohol. Served traditionally as dessert though it could certainly be employed in aperitivo format, as Brachetrto d’Acqui often is. Very cherry, lightly carbonated and sweetly herbal. Simple pleasure. Drink 2020-2021. Tasted January 2020

Good to go!

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Godello in Cherasco

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WineAlign

Twenty mind-blowing wines of 2020

Dec21

There are times when you do it just for the continuity because time marches on, no matter the circumstances. There is no disputing how different 2020 was and frankly the flip to 2021 will not bring about significant change or any semblance of a return to what was, at least not in the first several months. Yet the compelling urge is there, to quantify and qualify this annual Godello list of wines that opened, expanded and blew a mind in 2020. The concept for a year-end summation was launched in 2012 though it was the publishing of 14 in 2014 that made it very official, if only in the mind of one Godello. Matters little whether this qualifies as the seventh or the ninth because in wine one should always eschew semantics for the liquid truth found inside the bottle, elixirs they are of most profound, ethereal and honest propriety.

This will be a much different list than ever before. While I did manage to squeeze in 25 days of travel in the first 56 of 2020 those were the last of this calendar year. That’s at least 75 short of my normal yearly schedule and so imagine that if an average of 30 wines are tasted each and every day on the road, well then that would tell us that at the very minimum 2,250 wines were missed this year. Not entirely true because at least half that many, if not 75 per cent more were made available to me and my WineAlign colleagues over these past nine month of quarantine, isolation and safe-distancing tastings. Still the make-up of what was tasted has been very different, the most notable being the lack of unrepresented or not found in market wines. Less discovery in 2020 to be sure.

Campo Spritz

According to my personal critic’s database on WineAlign I reviewed 4,450 wines in 2020, keeping in mind that many of those reviews were for wines tasted in 2019. Up until this year I was consistently behind or back-logged with hundreds if not more than a thousand tasting notes in the queue, unedited, unresolved, not yet reconciled, unfinished, not-posted. Since the global pandemic abruptly delivered me home in the dead of a late February night from Faenza to Firenze, through Frankfurt and to Pearson I have not been able to resume travel. These last 10 months have allowed for a massive catching up. There are now a thousand less wines to finesse and publish then there were this time last year, very few raw and rustic songs waiting for the editing process. All the choices on this 2020 list have been solidified and already been opined with confidence for the world to scrutinize. In 2020 there is nothing left on the table.

Related – 16 mind-blowing wines of 2016

Slipped outta Dodge under the cover of darkness…

This year’s list is indeed different. The get togethers were few and far between. The travel non-existent. That is why you will recognize more producer names and also a more “archetypal” bent to the choices. The year dictates such a direction and as we all know, you have to listen to what the vintage tells you but also to remember and thank the true pioneers for getting all of us here. Perhaps the greatest influence on how this composition came to be was a conscious choice to omit the older vintages tasted in 2020. There were less to be sure but it just feels like keeping them kind of secretive is the way to go. Let’s hope a connection to that part of this exercise will make a return in 2021. As always, heartfelt thanks to everyone who poured a glass. The producers, winemakers, export managers, friends, colleagues and pirates, so please be encouraged and read on. Alas, Godello’s 20 mind-blowing wines of 2020.

The Heldeberg from Stellenbosch

Ken Forrester Old Vine Reserve Chenin Blanc 2019, WO Stellenbosch, South Africa (23128, $17.95, Noble Estates Wines & Spirits Inc.)

Gets me every time. Not just one of the finest meets best value chenin blancs available out of South Africa but an example to hang all your hats on no matter where white wine comes from in this world. Still the knowing nod and incredulous head shake that $18 CDN can buy you fruit from six blocks that are mainly 38 years of age but could possibly include 1974 Helderberg planted vines in Stellenbosch. “Core of the business” and arrow through a chenin heart. Great ferment, like a (catherine) wheel. Layers of design, creamy with thanks to secondary lees aging but somehow still texturally chewy. Barrel notes make a point in a vanilla brûlée way and yet each sip is like taking a bite from a piece of firm, ripe fruit. “I need more texture. You need to give me more texture, texture, texture. You need to give me more texture.” Old Vine Reserve obliges every time. Drink 2020-2026. Tasted June 2020

Selbach Oster Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese 2018, Prädikatswein, Mosel, Germany (17498, $45.95, Noble Estates Wines & Spirits Inc.)

The triad of producer, appellation and vineyard gets no more arch classic than this with a riesling in Spätlese form at the hands of Selbach-Oster. The pitch and sway in this Wehlener Sonnenuhr vinyeard is 2018 dance card perfect, tight and fluid. Succulent acids are burgeoning and urging the fruit forward, sideways and every which way but loose. This is a wine that gets what needs and gives what is wanted. Will only improve with a few years and then there will come a day when an air or vapour trail falls away. Drink 2022-2033. Tasted November 2020

Tyrrell’s Belford Sémillon 2017, Single Vineyard, Hunter Valley, New South Wales, South Australia (14322, $46.95, Select Wine Merchants)

Belford Vineyard (formerly Elliot Farm) is Hunter Valley leader Tyrrell’s single-vineyard leased sémillon with so much promise in its corner. A top varietal vintage for one thing and the well-draining sandy soils for another. Sémillon thrives in these conditions and so what comes from this awe-inspiring wine is exactly what you possibly wish for when selecting from Hunter Valley. This wine is swiftly, justly and perpetually lit, a smoky, paraffin waxy, über salty, elemental, aerified, verified mineral wine. So focused and precise. Mon dieu, Drink 2021-2026. Tasted June 2020

Fresne Ducret La Grande Hermine Champagne Premier Cru 2008, AC Champagne, France ($78.00, Nicholas Pearce Wines)

Hard to believe the age because while this almost certainly achieved an immediately retro toasted and evolved stage in its youth and though 12 years have passed the present day imaginings are dreamed to persist within that very immediate stage. As creamy as it is toasty, the textural body politic in La Grande Hermine is one of great cerebral and figurative impression. You feel, intuit and embrace such honesty and possibility. Drink this vintage dated Champagne all winter long. Its calming presence will preserve you in a state of grace lower than a snowman’s blood pressure. Drink 2020-2028. Tasted September 2020

El Esteco

El Esteco 1947 Old Vines Cabernet Sauvignon 2018, Cafayate Valley, Salta, Argentina (15082, $24.95, Philippe Dandurand Wines Ltd.)

From Argentina’s northern desert where some of the country’s oldest vines perpetuate existence while thriving fiercely in a hot climate. So yes it is true that some fruit from 70-plus year old vines, well trees really, make their way into this special Salta wine. Dense and concentrated, Cassis times 10, savoury and truly expressive. Oak is well-managed, not shy mind you but these old vines deserve some added and fortifying structure. Do not miss this. Drink 2021-2028. Tasted August 2020

Concha Y Toro Don Melchor Cabernet Sauvignon 2017, Maipo Valley, Chile (403980, $160.00, Escalade Wines & Spirits)

Though essentially a cabernet sauvignon at minimum 90 per cent, it would normally need saying to never discount the blending attributes of cabernet franc, merlot and in recent years, petit verdot. The nooks and crannies filled by the other grape varieties are some of the senses of wonder that have illuminated and elucidated the magic of Don Melchor. And yet years of such thought is turned on its head in 2017 with a 98 per cent pure cabernet sauvignon Don Melchor and only two bits of cabernet franc. Speaks to winemaker Enrique Tirado’s vision of the varietal and vintage relationship. After all, this is his baby, a passion project that spans 20 vintages, from which he looks to “harvest the beauty of the balance of the Puente Alto terroir.” From Viñedo Don Melchor, D.O. Puente Alto and Valle del Alto Maipo, old vines planted 1979 to 1992, new from 2004-2013. The vintage was above average in terms of warmth, cooler temperatures at harvest preserved acidities and sealed the (near) mono-varietal deal. At 30 years into its tenure Don Melchor hits a new stride and it would be hard to argue against the levels of subtle, demure, balanced and ethereal in this 2017. Perfect fruit? Pretty darn close and a bouquet of fresh picked flower-herb-fruit that merge, meld and grace together. One for this age and to age gracefully, slowly and predictably for 20-25 years. Drink 2022-2037. Tasted October 2020

Taub Family Vineyards Beckstoffer Vineyard Georges III Cabernet Sauvignon 2017, Napa Valley, California (849434, $235.00, Dionysus Wines & Spirits Ltd.)

From proprietor Marc Taub who’s family has been prominently part of the Napa Valley wine fabric since prohibition and who in 2013 acquired Napa Valley producer Heritance, later evolving into Taub Family Vineyards. His winemaker is Tom Hinde, a Sonoma and Napa specialist who cut his teeth for seven years at Flowers, but also at Kendall-Jackson, Hartford, La Crema, Lakoya, Cardinale, Stonestreet and Verite. Add in a mere three acres within the historic 300-acre Beckstoffer Vineyard first purchased by Beaulieu founder Georges de Latour in 1928, called Beaulieu Vineyard Number 3 and made by winemaker Andre Tchelistcheff. The 2017 Napa Valley cabernet sauvignon are a very special lot. That much we know. Add in the pedigree, torch passing and respect for these necessary tenets of wine-producing business and well, hello. Utmost attention to detail, optimum extraction and concentration, sultry, supple and ultimately divine. There is this fine, fine, almost indescribable salty vein that cuts through the fruit and the fat like perfect umami seasoning in the most decadent dish. With meat or seafood, California or Japan, take your pick. Drink this either way. Drink 2023-2039. Tasted October 2020

Olive and Anthony Hamilton Russell

Hamilton Russell Pinot Noir 2018, WO Hemel En Aarde Valley, South Africa (999516, $59.95, Noble Estates Wines & Spirits Inc.)

Even though the ’18 HR PN took my breath away nine months ago, the not yet understood nuance of this wine surely clouded first impressions. However small a sample size this may be is more than enough to prove time’s effect on wine, pinot noir and Hamilton Russell’s spiritual connection with the grape and how it personifies the Hemel En Aarde Valley. Fragrance, perfume, essential oils, Lilac, Lilly of the Valley and the sweetest tobacco smoulder. Captivating now and quite likely will be so into the mid 30s. Last tasted August 2020

There have been many Hamilton Russell pinot noir poured in my anxiously awaiting glasses over the last five years. It’s hard to believe we are here at 2018 but time is a joy when you are having a noirmance. The fruit is exceptional in this vintage because it just feels like the warm day/cool night fix is in. The diurnal flux has locked in freshness and sweet tension like no recent memory can recall. Makes for a most grippy yet excitable pinot noir of concentration, presence and promise. Benchmark in every respect. Drink 2021-2032. Tasted November 2019

That Marco Cirese Sangiovese stare. His Noelia Ricci and Pandolfo are crucial, fundamental and illustrative of what is possible in Emilia-Romagna. #sangiovesediromagna #viniadarte #viniadarte2020

Noelia Ricci Pandolfa Romagna Sangiovese Predappio DOC Godenza 2018, Emilia Romagna, Italy (The Vine Agency)

Godenza was the name of the podere (house) on site at a one hectare vineyard at 340m, the highest section of Ricci’s land. The introduction of concrete tanks is surely responsible (in part) to the freshness and reduction but also poor, well-draining calcareous soils that complete a relationship with open-knit and fragrant red fruit. Adds up to complexities and beauty, not to mention the hands-off, unadulterated feel of this wine. At the top end of quality and elaborate expression for the appellation. Drink 2021-2026. Tasted twice at Vini Ad Arte, Casa Spadoni, Faenza February 2020

Because he’s Dario F-in Faccin, that’s why g-dammit! #carobbio #sangiovese #chianticlassico #panzano #galestro

Tenuta Carobbio Chianti Classico DOCG 2016, Tuscany, Italy ($33.60, Alta Wines)

Stop in here for a rest and exult in the near perfect grace, charm and collective soul in the heart of an Annata. To say that the Novarese family and Dario Faccin should feel the greatest sangiovese reward from this appellation would be a grand understatement. This version of Panzano and Chainti Classico DOCG is what it is, what it can and must be. Should be. Has to be. Richly glorious and confidently understated. The cleanest sangiovese and the one that speaks most succinctly of the land. These are the reasons why Carobbio is the most underrated, but for how long? This ’16 will see proof to that and so much more. Drink 2021-2031. Tasted February 2020

With the brothers Boscu Bianchi Bandinelli

Villa Di Geggiano Chianti Classico Riserva DOCG 2015 (Barrel Select)

Now to introduce you to the Boscu Bianchi Bandinelli brothers, Alessandro and Andrea, two men who covet, own and articulate their western wing of Castelnuovo terroir. As custodians of these classic southern Chianti Classico Alberese and Galestro vineyards they have come to understand their nuance and their specialities. So, Riserva from 2015 now comes to its beginning having needed every bit of the extra two years in bottle it has received. Yes this Geggiano ’15 Riserva still needs time and if you abide by the premise it will come alive, surmise and in turn, surprise. In fact it will make a lasting impression and stay with you forever. Drink 2022-2030. Tasted February 2020

Castello Di Monsanto Chianti Classico Gran Selezione DOCG 2015, Tuscany, Italy (Stem Wine Group)

The acumen, wisdom and also the persistent reduction are formidable in this incredibly concentrated wine. So Monsanto, so in delivery of San Donato in Poggio, so Laura Bianchi. Seemingly equipped with the needed stuffing in the way that 1968 managed to accrue over 50 years of travels. Here in Gran Selezione form the tendencies and the abilities are multiplied tenfold. Magnificent and magnanimous, the concentration is foiled by focus and precision, from all that has come before, moving into the present and then going forward with everything that occupies, in hopes and dreams. Drink 2025-2037. Tasted February 2020

Vineyard at Salicutti

Podere Salicutti Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Sorgente 2015, Tuscany, Italy

Organic, biodynamic and unfiltered, from the then first in Montalcino, at the hands of Francesco Leanza, in 1995. Now (and since 2015) in the custodial hands of Felix and Sabine Eichbauer, halfway between Montalcino and Castelnuovo dell’Abate. The last of the cru, single-vineyards planted at Salicutti and not surprisingly the one with most red fruity juiciness that keeps a lineage with the Rosso. If a portal into knowing what it makes to taste the bright side of 2015 could be described then why not make use of this ethereal Sorgente to learn of such things. Voltage, tension and vibration. Drink 2021-2028. Tasted February 2020

Francesco Ripaccioli

Canalicchio Di Sopra Brunello Di Montalcino DOCG Casaccia 2016, Tuscany, Italy (Le Sommelier Inc.)

Barrel Sample. Now this is something exceptional. This is what Casaccia is obviously capable of producing, The sweetest Canalicchio fruit of all, to date and with a rising low and slow angling of acidity (as opposed to straight verticality) that carries the fruit to great heights. This will be a triumph and in fact it is already tasting like a piece de Canalicchio resistance while it sings a long maestro song. A soloist that needs no accompaniment although food, company and peace would not hurt at all. Obviously this is more than just the northern side of Montalcino and more than Canalicchio. This is Casaccia. Drink 2025-2039. Tasted February 2020

Lorenzo Magnelli, Le Chiuse

Le Chiuse Brunello Di Montalcino Riserva DOCG Diecianni 2013, Tuscany, Italy

The ’13 will be released on January 1st, 2023 and as the name Diecianni suggests it is a Riserva that 10 years minimum are needed before readiness begins to take shape. The selection is from the smallest grape clusters in estate vineyards and mainly the oldest vines, originally planted in 1987. The vintage of the great polyphonic-phenolic, elastic and stretched ripeness, by photosynthesis without heat, of muscles with energy and ones that will develop, remain and use their power to keep the fruit alive. That said it’s a wine of wood and the highest level of salinity, sapidity and a tang that is exhibited by no other Brunello di Montalcino. A concentration that is simply outstanding and in some minds, will even be eclipsed (or not) by 2016. The finesse and architecture of this wine are as good as it gets. Drink 2026-2042. Tasted February 2020

Lucrezia Carrega Malabaila

Malabaila Di Canale 1362 Roero Riserva DOCG Castelletto 2015, Piedmont, Italy ($59.95)

From Canale vines 50 years old and the most historical vineyard for Malabaila, as documents show. Riserva here means two years in two, three and four year-old barrels. Yet another silky Roero and example of nebbiolo that could not have been born anywhere else. The “little castle” is a charming nebbiolo, fine of all its constructive parts with an ease of sensuality that just shows how confident, casual and natural life as it is just happens to be. Castelletto knows what it is. Drink 2020-2028. Tasted January 2020

Elena Sottimano

Sottimano Barbaresco DOCG Basarin 2016, Piedmont, Italy ($103.95, Le Maitre de Chai)

Basarin in the newest Cru for Sottimano, established in 2014 though the vines are already between 45-50 years old. Released just at the start of 2020 and already displaying a prominence in aromatics that speak to this exceptional nook just below Neive. From a vintage blessed for its place in history matched by a requiem for a dream. Crunchy for nebbiolo surely caused by the policy of classically long Piedmontese maceration, drawing fruit with gentle impunity and long-grained tannins in thrushes and intermingling chains. Pure dark fruit (almost raspberry) and a generous application of wood varnish. Architecture, length and character, all together. Drink 2022-2037. Tasted January 2020

With Francesca Vaira

G.D. Vajra Barolo DOCG Bricco Delle Viole 2016, Piedmont, Italy ($113.95, Groupe Soleil)

The thing of Bricco delle Viole that is beauty emits with gala fruit force into the canals of the layers. Bricco dell Viole the singular Barolo cru, from which fruit, texture and extension are consistently planned out, mapped and organized. So wound, so found and following a path that runs along a line along a circle. Slow unwind and unfolding coming, culminating in developed notes, to be far away, somewhere between then and then. Too soon to tell. Drink 2023-2032. Tasted January 2020

Penfolds St. Henri Shiraz 2017, South Australia, Australia (12016, $150.00, Mark Anthony Group)

Another old friend, St. Henri, once a wine for a special occasion, now one for all times. No, not a baby Grange but to me this is to Penfolds as Vigne de l’Enfant Jesus is to Maison Bouchard Père & Fils. Not that there is any resemblance to pinot noir save for the fact that in terms of shiraz, St. Henri is the elegant or if you will, the Burgundian one. Penfolds like to refer to Henri as “an intriguing counterpoint to Grange,” and that seems right in the sense that power and optimum concentration are never the point. It is a multi-regional blend, from Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale, Eden Valley and Port Lincoln. There is no new wood exercised; it spends 12 months in 50-plus year old vats. Distinct style, unique pedigree and alternative execution. Adds up to intrigue, enigma and mystery, which is just what an iconic and signature counterpoint should do. Acidity and structure are tops, bar none. Drink 2023-2039. Tasted October 2020

Taylor Fladgate Vintage Port 2018, Douro Valley, Portugal (12076, $160.00, Sylvestre Wines & Spirits)

The third consecutively declared Vintage Port by Taylor is one of 18’s most powerfully restrained. Taylor describes their 2018 from a “year (that) seems to have given it an additional layer of density and weight.” Apropos it needs saying because texture this viscous is clearly vintage driven. After record aridity in 2017 it was a wet March that was welcomed with open arms and water tables but the rain kept up and so mildew became the challenge. Worse was damage from hailstorms in the Pinhão area, including Taylor Fladgate’s Quinta do Junco. But the heat came and on August 3rd at Quinta de Vargellas they recorded a temperature of just over 44°C. Ripening happened in a shorter and more concentrated window, a good thing in the world of VP, as witnessed by the no holes, all in, singular in vision and style Taylor 2018. Not the gangster power surge of some others mind you and the violets give little aromatic space to fruit nor perfume that tries to steal the spotlight. These are remarkable tannins and it could be periods of ages and epochs before this begins to move into complexities secondary and tertiary. If I were as young as I think you are I’d invest in this Taylor for the next 30-plus years of evolution. Drink 2027-2044. Tasted November 2020

Good to go!

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WineAlign

Roero DOCG Previews and Retrospectives: 2017, Riserva 2016, 2007 and Riserva 2006

Aug4

Across the Tanaro River to Roero

Nebbiolo, arbiter of Piedmontese taste, far from existing in a vacuum or holed up in a one horse town. Nebbiolo’s web casts complex, wide, untethered, unconfined and spread out across a connected set of earthly Albeisa vineyard constellations. The varietal lands umbrellaed and managed in trust to a multi-tasking Consorzio belong to a greater set of regions occupied by Barolo, Barbaresco, Alba, Dogliani and Roero. To follow Piemonte’s nebbiolo simply map out the wine route “di Langa e Roero,” to trace out hundreds of cru sites in dozens of communes within a territory that includes hot spots defined as Barolo DOCG, Barbaresco DOCG, Nebbiolo d’Alba DOC, Langhe Nebbiolo DOC and Roero DOCG. For the latter orient one’s self at the village of Canale and radiate outwards to take in the world that encapsulates nebbiolo grown in zones to produce a unique set of wines. The nebbiolo from vineyards in Roero are special and they are beholden to their makers.

Albeisa President Marina Marcarino introduces Roero Consorzio President Francesco Monchiero

La Bottiglia Albeisa

All the nebbiolo rest in one bottle shape, the “Albeisa bottle” and rest assured all glass etched “Albeisa” contains nebbiolo grown only in these Langhe and Roero lands. It was Renato Ratti who first suggested the project seek this defining characteristic, way back in 1973. Shape, location, provenance, tradition and excellence. Bordeaux, Bourgogne, Albeisa. Recognizable for all these aforementioned reasons and a parochial prejudice in the collective attention to detail.

Roero is an area in Cuneo Province of Regione Piemonte and on the left bank of the Tanaro River, between the plain of Carmagnola and the low hills of Astigiano. Roero’s geographical parameters and topographical stretching northwards from Alba towards Torino are protected within an invisibly drawn membrane or fence enveloping a set of municipalities/villages/communes that mark its outskirts, from the southwest moving clockwise; Pocapaglia, Sommariva Perno, Baldissero d’Alba, Montaldo Roero, Monteu Roero, Santo Stefano Roero, Montà d’Alba, Canale, Priocca, Govone, Castellinaldo, Magliano Alfieri, Castagnito, Guarene, Vezza d’Alba, Piobesi d’Alba, Corneliano d’Alba, Monticello d’Alba and Santa Vittorio d’Alba. These 19 administrative entities then beget 175 recognized cru for raising Roero nebbiolo.

Dressed to prune ~ Lessons in Alba with the maestro, Dottore Edoardo Monticelli ~ @albeisawines #nebbioloprima2020 #guyot #nebbiolo #barbera

What’s going on, under the ground?

From a geological point of view it is quite a young land, despite resting on a very ancient crystalline base. Up until 130 million years ago it was part of the bottom of an inland sea, called the Golfo Padano. Its terrain was formed by the sedimentation of debris of various lithological origins transported by marine currents that eroded the surrounding mountains, layering them through various stages of drying up and immersion. Roero remained a shallow gulf until the Pliocene, as shown by the sandy sediments and marine clays. The emergence and formation of the Roero hills took place two to three million years ago. This drift also brought various types of soil to the surface: the deeper layers shifted uphill, whereas those more recent remained at the bottom of the valley.

After the final surfacing the soil was covered once again by sediments of alluvial and wind origin. In that period Langhe and Roero formed a single plateau with the Tanaro and the Stura in the direction Bra – Carmagnola. The great friability of this marine-origin soil led to a progressive erosion. This shift occurred between 220.000 and 150.000 years ago along the path of the Tanaro in the direction Alba – Asti, separating Langhe and Roero. The erosion of the river had a significant effect on the sandy soil of Roero, creating the Rocche, craggy mountain peaks that mark the watershed between the old and new Tanaro valley. They cut the territory from south-west to north-east, from Pocapaglia to Montà, dividing the continental gravel and fluvial clay soils from those of marine origin, providing ideal vine-growing conditions.

The formation of Roero’s geological composition sheds light on why it evolved into an important territory for nebbiolo and in particular arneis but the Consorzio’s current President Francesco Monchiero reminds us that it is quite difficult in terms of menzioni geografica, at least with respect to labelling, much more so than the geographical mentions for Barolo and Barbaresco. This complicated and complex issue is attributed to the area’s many hills and tributaries, varied soils and geological compositions. The nebbiolo from Roero is so closely related to its sabbia, sandy soils that transfer and translate in the perfume, “as violet and a certain elegance.”

At the Roero Producers’ Consortium on March 4th, 2014 a decree was published in the Official Gazette “with the objective to perform the functions of protection, advancement, promotion, consumer information and general care of the interests related to the “Roero” DOCG.” In Alba on January 21st, 2020 Monchiero makes mention of 1797, the year to which the first inventories and notebooks of the Roero are found in the historic cellars of Roero di Vezza and Guareno, speaking of “Brente di Arneis, Vigna Costa in Castagnito and “Vermout made with Arneis”. Then into the 1800s traces of Arneis are found in the writings of Gallesio, who lists it among the most typical varieties of Roero and later the Rovasenda confirm its liaison with the city of Corneliano d’Alba. Finally, the 1879 bulletins indicate that 40 per cent of the Monteu Roero vineyards are dedicated to Arneis. Today there are more than 300 consortium members made up of producers and growers, and more than 1,000 hectares of Roero Denominazione (Designation) vineyards, with a total of about 6 million bottles produced, of which more than 60% are exported. Arneis and nebbiolo are the two base grapes of the DOCG: native grapes, typical of this territory, cultivated for centuries and interpreted with great care by the Roero producers.

Lucrezia Carrega Malabaila

The language of Roero

The dynamic and symbiotic relationship between a Roero winegrower to vine, winemaker to wine and nebbiolo as the conduit is actually a transference of information from one set of species to another. That is because the world, as per the words of authors we read and producers we cherish, is made of language. The links and associations are centuries old and through time it is the sampling of flavours, the charting of ripples and the passing of generational torches that ensures a ceaseless linking of knowledge. Case in point the house of Azienda Agricola Malabaila Di Canale.

The @malabaila.wines from Lucrezia Carrega Malabaila. Pas Dosé Metodo Classico seven years on lees, Roero Arneis, Favorita, Roero Nebbiolo, Barbera d”Alba and Birbét. 658 years in. Their time begins now.

Lucrezia Carrega Malabaila is at the helm of Canale’s most historic estate brought into modern eminence by her father before he passed away in 2010. Though Langhe Rosato, Pas Dosè Método Classico Vino Spumante, Mosta d’Uva Parzialmente Fermentato, Dessert Brachetto, Langhe Favorita, Roero Arneis, Barbera d’Alba, Barbera d’Alba Cru and Nebbiolo d’Alba are all purposefully and successfully produced, it is the nebbiolo from estate crus that tell a most profound Malabaila story. Then there is the Malabaila connection to Austrian Esterhazy royalty but that is for another story and another time. This old vines Castelletto brings Canale into prominent nebbiolo focus to ride along with the greats of Barbaresco.

Malabaila Di Canale 1362 Roero Riserva DOCG Castelletto 2015

The chef, the plates and the art ~ @ventuno.1 in Alba

The Roero experience is one that requires so much further investigation so here’s to hoping and planning with great intention to make a return for that very purpose. In the meantime here are 38 reviews in total covering the January of 2020 Nebbiolo Prima tastings for Roero DOCG Previews and Retrospectives: 2017, Riserva 2016, 2007 and Riserva 2006.

Roero DOCG 2017

***** Battaglino Fabrizio Roero 2017

The alcohol is felt and noted with syrupy fruit and a glycerin that comes straight off the aromatic top. Here a big Vezza d’Alba nebbiolo with some Bretty volatility and true blue natural feel. Structured with grippy tannins and all of the above combine to impress even while you wonder if some will find it a bit over the top. It may be found to be heavy but there is no doubting the acumen and the potential. Drink 2022-2029. Tasted January 2020

Bric Castelvej Roero DOCG 2017

Slight volatility, thin and also some oxidative notes. Like cool climate pinot noir in Canale without much substance or structure. Drink 2020-2021. Tasted January 2020

***** Careglio Roero DOCG 2017

Demure, elegance, cherry and simplicity from Baldissero d’Alba. Light and feathery, quiet and pretty. A fine, slight chalky grain to the tannic structure. Really fine drinkability. Drink 2020-2022. Tasted January 2020

Cascina Val Del Prete Roero DOCG 2017

The twain is accessed in a Priocca Roero nebbiolo neither light nor heavy, neither bright nor mired in darkness. A medium-bodied, somewhere between easy and very ripe so balance is the answer. Soft, pliable and yet notable tannin supports very fine acidity and blood orange fruit. Drink 2021-2025. Tasted January 2020

Cornarea Roero DOCG 2017

From go the feeling is bones, Canale karst intuition and structure. It is in here that nebbiolo takes on another level and layer of possibility. That said the fruit is caught between the posit poles of ripe and rustic. Very close to an exceptional wine. Just needs a bit earlier preserved acidity and passion. Drink 2020-2022. Tasted January 2020

La Libera

Deltetto 1953 Roero DOCG 2017

Quite near the top of the bright factor though some warmth and weight keep this on the right side of density and extraction. Tannins are bigger and grippier than expected so really, ostensibly steal the show. Let this settle though when it does the S. Stefano Roero fruit will be tighter and drying into further floral crispness. Drink 2022-2024. Tasted January 2020

Enrico Serafino Roero DOCG 2017

The brightest nebbiolo from Canale Roero gives straight-shooting cherry aroma and flavour. Floral in a dried rose potpourri way with fine acidity and a liquid chalkiness though more from an almost neutral beeswax feel, rather than true blue tannin. Interesting wine that seems to come from limestone, even if it does not. Drink 2020-2023. Tasted January 2020

***** Giovanni Almondo Roero DOCG 2017

Light, bright, effusive and effulgent. Smells a bit like coffee and tobacco which is in great contrast to the transparency of hue and texture. Quite floral, intense and structured. This is serious nebbiolo from Montà and surely a harbinger for the commune in terms of its soils, abilities and wealthy forward thinking possibilities. Drink 2022-2029. Tasted January 2020

Malabaila Di Canale Roero DOCG 2017

Bright and effusive Canale nebbiolo with cherry transparency and notable tannins. Hovering in between beats in terms of fruit pectin substance though the keel is balanced and proper. All the parts are there and in line if just a step shy of giving away a step up dance party impression. Drink 2021-2024. Tasted January 2020

***** Malabaila Di Canale 1362 Roero DOCG Bric Volta 2017

A vineyard monople and 100 per cent Canale nebbiolo with sand and minerals in the soil at the top of the hill. Makes for smooth and sweet tannins. Everything about this nebbiolo is just that. Silk threaded through cashmere and there is no mistaking the origin. This is not Barolo or Barbaresco. It’s purely Roero and at the haute heights of chic and beauty. And it has a minor volatile flaw in funk that adds character and complexity. After all we wouldn’t want it to be perfect. Drink 2020-2029. Tasted January 2020

Mario Costa Roero DOCG 2017

Ripe and very developed fruit, a touch of figgy raisin character. Feel the sandy Canale soil and the development then takes over completely. Drink 2020. Barrel Sample tasted January 2020

Marsaglia Roero DOCG 2017

Darker hued and ripe beyond so many, this is the nebbiolo from Roero to entice, induce and seduce with its inviting and substantial fleshiness. Also tannic with a late arriving bitter-sour edging that suggests a heavier pressing and bigger ambition. Chewy and filling with plenty of weight, almost to the precipice of warmth and distraction. From Castellinaldo. Drink 2021-2025. Tasted January 2020

***** Monchiero Carbone Roero DOCG 2017

Some great initial interest on this Roero nebbiolo nose, distinctly violet floral mixed with a waft of fresh tobacco. You note the wood here, lightly vanilla, mildly spiced and a touch of sandalwood coming in late. Right proper structure and Canale possibilities intact. Drink 2021-2025. Tasted January 2020

Rabino F.Lli Di Rabino Andrea Roero DOCG 2017

A nearly searing S. Vittoria d’Alba nebbiolo with a dried fruit quality and quite demanding tannins. Notably woody and the seeds of tannic thrush take over to render the fruit almost sterile and unavailable. Hard to see it returning, like overtly demanding Gattinara. Drink 2022-2024. Tasted January 2020

Osteria dei Sognatori

Roero Riserva DOCG 2016

Bric Castelvej Roero Riserva DOCG Selezione Panera Alta 2016

A higher toned and also ripe 2016 Canale Riserva for nebbiolo that makes one think of North American pinot noir. The strawberry is nearly candied (west coast) and there’s an evergreen note (eastern cool climate) so the juxtaposition is a candid one. Drink 2020-2023. Tasted January 2020

***** Cà Di Cairè Di Rolfo Emanuele Roero Riserva DOCG 2016

Spiked juiced is this aromatic Montà nebbiolo, he of sharp acids and grippy tannin. Not the morbido and supple Roero Riserva that many are and so many others aspire to be but when you encounter such structure you just know the soils are responsible. You also figure the winemaker made the wine that had to be made. This will be very long lived. Drink 2022-2030. Tasted January 2020

Cascina Ca Rossa Roero Riserva DOCG Mompissano 2016

Cool and just hinting at a mentholated note in a very transparent Canale nebbiolo. The barrel is clearly a factor and melted nicely in for good integration and balance. Makes for a sweet fruit profile and perfectly great ubiquitous Roero Riserva. Drink 2020-2023. Tasted January 2020

Cascina Chicco Roero Riserva DOCG Valmaggiore 2016

Here Vezza d’Alba Roero Riserva does nebbiolo less like the side of the river where it resides and more like Barbaresco. That may sound like a good idea but the resemblance is not one in a mirror but instead a look that tries a bit too hard. Well made but out of context and place. Drink 2020-2023. Tasted January 2020

***** Cascina Del Pozzo Roero Riserva DOCG Serra Zoanni 2016

Quiet if cool and savoury to the edge of verdancy. Nebbiolo from Roero can go this route, delicate when chilled and refreshing even while in Castellinaldo Riserva form. Warming the glass releases the volatile notes in a what is ostensibly a cool-climate condition. This drinks like frappato meeting cabernet franc and that’s a delicious combination with the added specificity of a cru named Serra Zoanni. Drink 2020-2023. Tasted January 2020

Cascina Lanzarotti Roero Riserva DOCG Carlinot 2016

So much vanilla emits from this wooden ship of a Canale nebbiolo for Roero Riserva. Cool palate feels go herbal and then the vanilla continues to creep. One-dimensional nebbiolo. Drink 2020-2021. Tasted January 2020

Deltetto 1953 Roero Riserva DOCG Braja 2016

High level example of chic style and prominent wood clothing. Smooth and in the vanilla, not to mention so much spice. Tannic structure ruins through every pore. Big nebbiolo from S. Stefano Roero and Braja cru. Drink 2021-2026. Tasted January 2020

Filippo Gallino Roero Riserva DOCG Sorano 2016

Lovely excess of volatility and ripeness matched by verdancy for Roero Riserva of dedication to tradition. The intensity of the Canale-Sorano fruit-acid compendium is a bit strained and forced. Has worked very hard and the time is now to drink up. Drink 2020-2021. Tasted January 2020

Lorenzo Negro Roero Riserva DOCG S. Francesco 2016

A bright red and white lighting nebbiolo from Monteu Roero here speaks to younger vines and sandier soils. Bright red fruit is less Riserva and more Annata with sharp and tang-riddled acidity. Prominent food wine with some wood spice and warmth at the finish. Drink 2020-2022. Tasted January 2020

***** Malvirà Roero Riserva DOCG Vigna Renesio 2016

Earthy and wild fruit aromatic Canale nebbiolo with a real case of the reds and the blues. The guess of Vigna Renesio would be blue clay soil in this particular case as per the way it wells with curiosity. Lots of barrel influence but the bones are supported by a chalkiness that is just starting to liquify, though several years will allow for a slow recline. Drink 2020-2026. Tasted January 2020

***** Monchiero Carbone Roero Riserva DOCG Printi 2016

Proper emittance, high-toned and regaling, going in many directions, mostly to culminate at a vortex where complexity lives. Rich and vigorous Pinti cru nebbiolo in Canale, complicit with all parts, fruit very much alive and texture rampant in waves and variegation. Top example of Riserva and not yet at the peak. Drink 2021-2028. Tasted January 2020

***** Negro Angelo Roero Riserva DOCG Sudisfà 2016

Simple, light, airy and delicate Sudisfà Roero of lovely disposition, namely finesse. Such integration and seamlessness is to be lauded, not to mention how drinkable and pleasurable it truly is. Not the most structured (though it is blessed with enough) but that matters little when all other parts do so much to please. Drink 2020-2024. Tasted January 2020

Pace Roero Riserva DOCG 2016

On the light and delicate Canale side, even for Roero Riserva with a full compliment of barrel incline while the wine already shows signs of decline. It’s quiet and lovely but no stuffing remains. Just some spice and soaked woody notes. Drink 2020. Barrel Sample tasted January 2020

Pelassa Roero Riserva DOCG Antaniolo 2016

Tones set to high and wood bringing things back down in a topsy-turvy example that wafts so much creamy vanilla. Just too much wood and very little integration, not to mention a hot finish. From Montà. Drink 2020-2021. Tasted January 2020

Ponchione Maurizio Roero DOCG 2017

Oxidative and nearly prune in aromas. Spice and blood orange, quite astringent. Expressive from hard pressing and replete with green tannins. From Govone. Drink 2020-2021. Tasted January 2020

Porello Marco Roero Riserva DOCG San Michele 2016

Elegantly soft Canale nebbiolo in Riserva clothing from the San Michele cru for Roero with little effort needed to find prime and simple joy while needing little to no structure in the mix. At least from this point going forward. Drink 2020-2022. Tasted January 2020

Trees of Cherasco, Piemonte

Renato Buganza Radici E Filari Roero Riserva DOCG 2016

Fromm Guarene, a simplified nebbiolo with no shortage of red and ropey fruit at peak sugar ripeness unmatched by phenolics just a touch short. Makes for high acid, tart and taut tannins with a green edge. Drink 2020-2021. Barrel Sample tasted January 2020

Taliano Michele Roero Riserva DOCG Roche Dra Bossora 2016

Lots going on from the top with a multifarious aromatic Montà drift. Tons of red fruit, a spike of volatility and a touch of Brettanomyces. Plenty of palate flavour and texture, finishing with a creamy if cool pool created by the time in wood. Drink 2020-2023. Tasted January 2020

Valdinera Roero Riserva DOCG San Carlo 2016

From Corneliano d’Alba and one of the ripest examples at the height of sweet strawberry. Almost all and only about fruit with very little barrel influence though the tannins are a bit astringent. Close but just a bit tightly pressed and wound. Drink 2020-2022. Tasted January 2020

Roero DOCG 2007 and Riserva DOCG 2006

Filippo Gallino Roero DOCG 2007

Near tertiary 13 year-old Roero nebbiolo from Canale with a lovely disposition and acidity that will not and perhaps never relent. Showing beautifully and with sweet fruit still intact. Drink 2020-2022. Tasted January 2020

Cascina Chicco Roero Riserva DOCG Valmaggiore 2006

Perhaps the richest of the retrospective Roero nebbioli is this from Cascina Chicco in Vezza d’Alba, all wood, chocolate, high acids and crunchy spice. A very oaky wine with plenty of drive that will not relent as a result of its strong-willed ambition. Wow, apropos for the Valmaggiore moniker. Drink 2020-2023. Tasted January 2020

Lorenzo Negro Roero Riserva DOCG S. Francesco 2006

Was a deeper, richer and riper nebbiolo from Monteu Roero-Roero for sure so now it has really rendered and deepened to wet earth. Still full of acidity and the trend is starting to appear with the obviousness of the grape-place-age relationship. Serious if pressing S. Francesco stuff here from Negro Lorenzo. Drink 2020-2022. Tasted January 2020

Monchiero Carbone Roero Riserva DOCG Printi 2006

Quite advanced and deservedly so for Roero nebbiolo with yet another look at the aging capabilities from the lesser appreciated Canale lands. Acids are quite striking here and the tannins surprisingly alive. Everything is. That’s nothing short of remarkable and surely far from lactic, Good site this Printi. Drink 2020-2023. Tasted January 2020

Taliano Michele Roero Riserva DOCG Roche Dra Bossora 2006

Taliano’s Montà nebbiolo is really showing its age and missing the classic Roero acidity. Actually comes through late along with the really drying tannins. Fruit vacated house a while back. Drink 2020. Tasted January 2020

Good to go!

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Across the Tanaro River to Roero

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WineAlign

Barolo DOCG previews and retrospectives: 2016, Riserva 2014, 2006 and Riserva 2004

Jul14

The Albeisa bottle is the symbol of the Langhe territory

Preview of Barolo DOCG 2016

Nothing in the behaviour of these nebbiolo consents to their age. Too serious, too impenetrable and at the same time terribly sharp, focused and severe. Wines as stiff as justice. Somehow they intimidate us but also create an environment for sheer, prolonged and utter enjoyment. Or at least they will, eventually, with time. When they arrive at their intended destination they will surrender a Barolo impression that we are barely drinking them. A retrospective look at yesterday Barolo DOCG 2006 and Riserva DOCG 2004 confirms from then, through current considerations, what will happen tomorrow.

Nebbiolo seekers may still be reminiscing about the Barolo & Barbaresco world opening as the largest appellation tasting for Italian wine in the United States. The event took place in New York City back in February 2020, featured over 200 producers, hosted 800-plus trade attendees and 500-plus consumers. Big stuff. As for me, my most recent Langhe experience was in January 2020 when I travelled to Alba in Piemonte for Nebbiolo Prima 2020 and Grandi Langhe. I tasted more than 600 nebbiolo, dolcetto, barbera, arneis, freisa, chardonnay, pelaverga and even riesling during the eight day work staycation. Grande.

Tasting at Nebbiolo Prima 2020

Vintage 2016 was the first from which Barolo DOCG exceeded 14 million bottles and that number accounted for 22.4 per cent of the total volume reported by the Consorzio di Tutela Barolo Barbaresco Alba Langhe e Dogliani. That Barolo and Barbaresco are so prominent is due of course to their international stardom but from a real and factual standpoint the fact is that nebbiolo plantings make up 37 of the Langhe region’s total vineyard space. All appellations and varietals are important and need to be tasted at the combination of Nebbiolo Prima and Grandi Langhe Trade Fair. Yet the bottom line remains. Barolo is king and most attendees are puppies in love when it comes to chasing that regal nebbiolo dream.

Menzione Geographica

Barolo’s cru system has elevated nebbiolo to the top of the Italian wine charts and few would argue against it residing at the head of the global wine buying and collecting chain. Mentioning the geographical location is Barolo’s calling card and no other Italian appellation has built such a veritable reputation on the pinpointing of locations. The mere preesence of a Menzione Geographica on a Barolo label tells a specific story. In 1879, Lorenzo Fantini in his “Monograph of Vine Growing and Enology in the Province of Cuneo,” offered an accurate description of the zone and defined Nebbiolo as “the prince of vines.” Again, Fantini in his “Monograph” wrote “if the vine has within itself excellent qualities it is also undoubtedly true that the elaboration of its heavenly juice requires favorable land and soil. Not all soils provide equal savor, so if we must doff our caps to this princely vine, we must revere with equal respect that earth which hosts and maintains it…the vine growth along the Langhe slopes, so rich and luxuriant, dominates all other cultivations. To the amenities and asperities of those hills, the hand of man and investment have cultivated the most splendid of vines which in turn have entirely altered the aspect of those localities. If from the high plateau of La Morra you cast a look at the vast surface of grape vines stretching out before you, upon beholding those magnificent vineyards, so won.” (Source: “Nebbiolo the Territorial Vine” by Pietro Ratti 2004)

Barolo by the numbers

By the numbers

Albeisa is a non-profit organization whose primary mission is to develop and promote the wine production of the Alba area. The Union of Alba Wine Producers manages the use of the bottle Albeisa, or Alba bottle, and represents approximately 230 members and 13 million bottles. Thanks, as always, must be afforded Albeisa’s guiding light and force, as in the organization’s President, Domaine Punset’s Marina Marcarino. This is what I have said (more than once) about the fearless leader and her charge. “Always the first to pioneer, lead, teach and share, Marcarino expressed the pride and the passion of the community of producers that worked tirelessly to create this formidable assembly. Albeisa’s goal is not singularly focused. This event is not simply a matter dedicated to the tasting of wine. Agricultural evolution and wine-producing innovation are a major focus, always with a socio-economic bearing kept in mind.” At the opening dinner in Alba at the week-long host Hotel I Castelli, it was pointed out that the number of declarations for labelling always exceeds what is bottled. That is because three of four years after harvest 25-30 per cent of producers decide to de-classify their Barolo (2013 numbers). In that vintage 147 declared and 128 bottled. In terms of menzione geographica 46 per cent declared and at harvest 23 actually bottled with the name of a Barolo cru. There has been a steady decline of the de-classification of grapes. Barolo’s loss is Nebbiolo DOC’s gain.

Journalists at Nebbiolo Prima 2020

The feelings and sensations gained in assessment of so many Barolo perforce was at the time, an unbearably lucid experience. The exercise is a test of will, staying power and endurance. Nebbiolo Prima is a sprint and a marathon wrapped into one. Who could not be made stronger, wiser and yet so humbled by having tasted through the experience. These notes reflect my experience, my connection to Piedmontese life, performing to others rhythms. The totality of these tasting notes cover Barolo DOCG 2016 (197), Riserva 2014 (6), 2006 (20) and Riserva 2004 (7), played to the tune of 230 reviews.

All the Nebbiolo. Nearly 400 over four days. Roero, Langhe, Barolo, Barbaresco.

***** denotes wines of the vintage

460 Casina Bric Barolo DOCG Bricco Delle Viole 2016

A cracked not-pepper, yes reductive if early corrective without reveal and aromas are all tar melt to fresh roses, though high in tone. This is Bricco delle Viole and will be very serious Barolo, tightly wound and equipped with some formidable structural unease. Look forward and further, far down the road. Drink 2023-2029. Barrel sample tasted January 2020

Abbona Marziano Barolo DOCG Cerviano Merli 2016

Quality concentration, richness of fruit, wild-eyed acidity and mature tannins make for an across the board effective and pleasurable Novello Barolo. A fine sample that will drink well early and in the near term. take full advantage. Drink 2021-2028. Barrel sample tasted January 2020

Abrigo Fratelli Barolo DOCG Ravera 2016

Big-boned nebbiolo here in Ravera clothing, so rich and concentrated, clearly from a warm part of the cru (perhaps the warmest) and a winemaker who allows the heavy fullness to do its thing. Welling and oozing with sumptuousness, thick tannin and ultimately a matter here of great Novello density. A style born out of necessity. Drink 2022-2028. Barrel sample tasted January 2020

***** Abrigo Giovanni Barolo DOCG Ravera 2016

Very handsome Novello nebbiolo, finely chiseled Ravera structural components with taut flesh and timeless disposition. The variegated hue tells so many stories through so many layers, as does the way the transitions move through space and time with finesse and effortless ease. It’s a highly tannic and fierce competitor but the race is a marathon in this case, not a sprint. Drink 2023-2035. Tasted January 2020

Agricola Marrone Barolo DOCG Bussia 2016

Welcome to Bussia. This is the prudent one, far from promiscuous and very promising. Hides everything and is not so fast to give anything away. The textural components are all together; chew, crunch, soft and crackling. Grooves slowly and changes tempo. Not sure which way it will go but its subtlety and its impression will not be denied. From Monforte d’Alba. Drink 2022-2029. Tasted January 2020

Alario Claudio Barolo DOCG Sorano 2016

High toned and octane Serralunga d’Alba nebbiolo with acids ripe, ripping and all over the map. Makes the fruit look silly and small though tannin is negligible. Simple red lightning in Barolo. Drink 2020-2022. Tasted January 2020

Alessandria Fratelli Barolo DOCG San Lorenzo Di Verduno 2016

Youthful Verduno but the sample exhibits tones quite up there with red citrus and wood-derived signs. Still a bit lean and verdant. In this adolescent state of grace it just seems woody, chewy and not even close to prime time. Drink 2022-2027. Barrel sample tasted January 2020

Alessandria Gianfranco Barolo DOCG San Giovanni 2016

Fresh and effacing, ripe and ready for all that’s coming. Very Monforte d’Alba nebbiolo, in a flat out juicy way and tannins stuffed in back pockets. Knowable and reasoned for what mind of expectation commits. Drink 2021-2026. Tasted January 2020

Assessing Barolo DOCG 2016

Alessandro Rivetto Barolo DOCG Del Commune Di Serralunga d’Alba 2016

So very ripe and extracted of very red berry Serralunga d’Alba fruit in a candied if savoury way. A nebbiolo of fruit, high acidity and simple structure. Nicely drinking and if it’s inexpensive I’ll gladly drink a few. Drink 2020-2022. Tasted January 2020

Amalia Cascina In Langa Barolo DOCG Le Coste Di Monforte 2016

Quiet and in low light demure, not overly expressive for 2016 Barolo. Tart and dry, not must juice or even moisture. Can’t see this Monforte d’Alba developing much more complexity though when it settles there will be pleasure afforded. Drink 2021-2024. Tasted January 2020

Angelo Negro Barolo DOCG Del Commune Di Serralunga d’Alba 2016

This is nebbiolo of largesse. prim, proper and so bloody commercial for all the correct reasons. Everyone can enjoy this as nebbiolo, Serralunga and Barolo. Clean and crisp with all the mild mannered and perfectly reasonable parts. Drink 2020-2024. Tasted January 2020

Anna Maria Abbona Barolo DOCG Bricco San Pietro 2016

Quite smoky, so much so it seems that the smoke has only very recently been extinguished. So much barrel toast and smoulder. Juicy with tobacco resonating throughout. Drink 2021-2024. Tasted January 2020

***** Arnaldo Rivera Barolo DOCG Rocche Di Castiglione 2016

Castiglione Falletto nebbiolo in the big time, ripe, rough tumbling and nearly rambunctious. The warmth and developing liqueur is nothing but comforting and enveloping. Carries through without staying away from the initial portent and plan. Big, Rocche di Castiglione boisterous and impressive. Drink 2021-2027. Tasted January 2020

***** Arnaldo Rivera Barolo DOCG Monvigliero 2016

And now for something completely different. This nebbiolo from Monvigliero is all saucisson, or in this Piedmontese instance, Cottechino. Honestly, just like it, raw and hematic, but also liberally perfumed, with roses of course. Structurally there are few equals and so the diversity in expression leaves a long-lasting and highly consequential impression. Now we are beginning to see why some would consider this Verduno as one of the greatest vineyards in the world. Drink 2023-2036. Tasted January 2020

Anselma Famiglia Barolo DOCG Bussia 2016

A wealth of collected features and possibility abounds in this Monforte d’Alba Barolo though the barrel is still very much a prominent aspect of the coverall condition. Really textured, chewy and tannic of push and thrush. Layers of Bussia structure need to peel, unfold and melt away. Drink 2022-2029. Barrel sample tasted January 2020

Ascheri Barolo DOCG 2016 ($56.99)

The Ascheri label is from La Morra. Seemingly the sort of Barolo that was, is and will always be this way. A bit rustic, surely made to act like itself vintage after vintage, coming across as fresh enough and equipped with all the dried fruit, savoury edging and portents that speak to the nebbioli of generations. Drink 2020-2024. Tasted January 2020

Ascheri Barolo DOCG Coste & Bricco 2016 ($75.00)

Quite extracted and concentrated Serralunga d’Alba nebbiolo with so much orange on the nose. Blood, scraped and juiced but also hematic and layered. Huge wine of fruit, acids and tannin. Nothing left behind, in the Coste & Bricco fields, in the barrels or on the table here. Drink 2021-2027. Tasted January 2020

Aurelio Settimo Barolo DOCG 2016

All in nebbiolo of earthy, swarthy and concentrated if chewy fruit. Also a touch volatile. Drink 2021-2024. Barrel sample tasted January 2020

Aurelio Settimo Barolo DOCG Rocche Dell’Annunziata 2016 ($54.95)

Some quietly acquiesced development already in this sultry and sumptuous La Morra Barolo. That nebbiolo can do this is youthful exuberance is the speciality of the place, especially in Rocche dell’Annunziata where the acumen amongst winemaking is off the charts. This may peak earlier than some others but full enjoyment can be had nonetheless. Drink 2021-2026. Barrel sample tasted January 2020

Barale Fratelli Barolo DOCG Castellero 2016

Youthful and slightly lean Castellero, with a transparency and tisane to be very sure. Really classic Barolo commune tannins, not overt as say anxiety inducing, but more than properly present and accounted for. Drink 2021-2028. Tasted January 2020

Barale Fratelli Barolo DOCG Bussia 2016

The aromas here are dramatically 2016. Ripe and racy with a cured salumi note. Stay here for a few minutes and you are gifted tar and roses, For real. The way this Monforte d’Alba Barolo has been handled is so proper and gives it every opportunity to succeed. High quality Bussia for sure. Drink 2022-2028. Tasted January 2020

Batasiolo Barolo DOCG Briccolina 2016

Quite the gregarious and expressive Briccolina aromatic sensation emits and gifts while in withstand against a formidable structural exchange. Plenty of fruit and just as much wood mean modernity and a whole lotta vanilla love. It’s a style to be sure, almost late 90s and early 2000s but there can be no avoiding what pleasure so many will derive from such an exercise. From Serralunga d’Alba. Drink 2021-2027. Tasted January 2020

Bava Barolo DOCG Scarrone 2016

The full gamut of fruit play is in. Scarrone is orange in so many ways and also umeboshi plum, prune, berries and ultimately like a slow rendered Marbella demi-glacé. Very rich Castiglione Falletto nebbiolo, welcoming its wood and giving away without shyness nor restraint. Drink 2021-2025. Tasted January 2020

***** Belcolle Barolo DOCG Monvigliero 2016

Oh my the tobacco on this Verduno nebbiolo from Monvigliero is uncanny. Like grandfather’s pipe snuffed out but lingering and so obvious when you enter the room. Then the scent turns sweet and comforting, a warm hug of a nebbiolo beneath a blanket of couverture by tannin. Throws the cru at you with everything it can and should. Drink 2023-2033. Tasted January 2020

Borgogno Barolo DOCG Liste 2016

Particular and singular aromas from Liste speak of and to a Barolo nebbiolo sense of wildness and freedom. Great acids, fruit slung across a pole draped with both fruity and earthy opportunity. Really compact and extended with great length. A touch peppery warm but when it settles the beauty will surely emerge. Drink 2022-2029. Tasted January 2020

Borgogno Francesco Barolo DOCG Brunate 2016

A forceful La Morra nebbiolo in hard-shell clothing there may seem to be morbido and amenable aromatic compounds but the palate hits you like a ton of mortar and brick. Crunchy, earthy and intense. This Brunate will soften and become a much more impressive wine in five plus years time. Drink 2023-2029. Tasted January 2020

Boroli Barolo DOCG Brunella 2016

The high resonance distracts with both brightness and humour though it purports to tell a thin story. The insubstantial texture speaks to the fruit conecntration and the inability of structural parts to save. Drink 2021-2023. Tasted January 2020

Sommeliers of Nebbiolo Prima 2020

Burlotto Comm. G.B. Barolo DOCG Acclivi 2016

A bit past prime aromatically speaking with a developed note of dried fruit and yet with some scarped skin energy that gives it a rightful tang. Quite orange in flavour, some tisane and mild finishing tannic twang. Drink 2020-2023. Tasted January 2020

Borgogno Fratelli Serio E Battista Barolo DOCG Cannubi 2016

Cannubi of Barolo spice cupboard is just thus, just like this. That and sweet dried fruit, desiccated floral petals and some mean verdancy in the tannins. Seems soft but it’s really not. Time will ease the edging and the tension. Drink 2022-2028. Tasted January 2020

Boroli Barolo DOCG Villero 2016

The third Villero style comes across through this more gregarious and less subtle Castiglione Falletto nebbiolo. Seeks quicker admiration and offers more immediate gratification. Texture is more liquid chalky and acids more integrated. Peppery in a non-reductive and French way with a really, really juicy finish. Fast admiration for such a specimen. Drink 2021-2026. Tasted January 2020

Bosco Agostino Barolo DOCG Neirane 2016

Taut Verduno nebbiolo, richly embossed, hungrily ambitious and dealing in parts long, purposed and fine. Quite a warm compliment of Neirane seasoning, salt, pepper and wooden piques over every bit of the fruit in and out of time. We’ll see about this barrel bruiser because the red fruit seems to handle it just fine. Drink 2022-2029. Tasted January 2020

Bovio Barolo DOCG Gattera 2016

A gregarious La Morra this Gattera in aromas though more down to earth on the palate. Texture is lean and elastic while tannins sharpen their digits on the fruit. Some distraction and separation. Drink 2021-2026. Tasted January 2020

Bovio Barolo DOCG Rocchettevino 2016

Deep inhalant of La Morra nebbiolo this one with as much Rocchettevino vineyard soil, climate and tradition instilled, installed and distilled. Quite tannic and tense, in fact the attention to nervous detail is commanding and invigorating. A high quality structural if old school example. Drink 2023-2029. Tasted January 2020

Brezza Giacomo E Figli Barolo DOCG Cannubi 2016

Tough early, tart and intensely textured Cannubi, very cool in climate oriented and sweetly herbal. Relatively soft and amenable acids, but also, in a way, Barolo tannins. Drink 2021-2025. Tasted January 2020

Brezza Giacomo E Figli Barolo DOCG Sarmassa 2016

Sarmassa for Barolo nebbiolo brings a cupboard full of spice, a brush past greenery in winter in the wood next to the vineyard and steeps a tisane from all the twigs, leaves and herbs. Then turns to face the roses, where sweet notes bloom and pleasure awakens. Will offer great pleasure in the five year range. Drink 2021-2026. Tasted January 2020

***** Bric Cenciurio Barolo DOCG Coste Di Rose 2016

As you might expect the uncanny scent of roses in so many incantations is the thing and everything, at least in the beginning. Fresh bouquet and dried petals circulate in stereo. Offers nebbiolo faith to go on and it’s only just begun. Though the absolute tightly gift-wrapped fruit needs little and asks for nothing at this early stage it will in turn return everything it received. A wonderful vintage of Coste di Rose Barolo. “This will be our year, took a long time to come.” Drink 2023-2034. Tasted January 2020

Bricco Giubellini Barolo DOCG Del Commune Di Monforte d’Alba 2016

Still reductive and in this case the rubber and pepper are how it shows. Chewy and near massive in its acid-tannin missive continuum. Really dramatic and big-boned nebbiolo from Monforte d’Alba with a need to come about and into balance. Drink 2023-2030. Tasted January 2020

Bricco Maiolica Barolo DOCG Del Commune Di Diano d’Alba 2016

The tonality here is exceptional, high and mighty, unsettled, breathing heavily, yet disturbed. Needs time. From Diano d’Alba. Drink 2020-2022. Barrel sample tasted January 2020

Broccardo Barolo DOCG I Tre Pais 2016 ($48.95)

Broccardo’s is a three-pronged Barolo affair from vineyards in Monforte d’Alba, Barolo and Novello for a true house amalgamation by Fillipo, Laura and Federico. While firm enough to speak about proper and cumulative nebbiolo structure there is an estate feel to I Tres Pais, a Piedmontese dialectical three verse poem that speaks to land, people and wine. That’s what Barolo is all about. Drink 2021-2027. Tasted January and April 2020

***** Brovia Barolo DOCG Brea Vigna Ca’Mia 2016

Quite closed with little aromatic give. Seems protective, not so much reductive but keeps its Serralunga d’Alba Brea secrets hidden. The palate reveals more and especially a solid architectural foundation on which fruit can climb. This is a finessed and impressionistic Barolo with a great future ahead. Drink 2022-2028. Tasted January 2020

Bruna Grimaldi Barolo DOCG Baudarina 2016

Good Serralunga d’Alba fruit core, a touch overripe and acidity tart, taut and in charge. All about that compendium distilled through Baudarina. Drink 2020-2022. Tasted January 2020

Bruna Grimaldi Barolo DOCG Bricco Ambrogio 2016

Really quite herbal, almost Amaro nebbiolo, cool, verdant, forest floor and foliage throughout. Solid structure with a minor note of bitters and drying edginess in the end. Fine appreciation for translating the Roddi-Bricco Ambrogio sense of place. Drink 2022-2026. Tasted January 2020

Burzi Alberto Barolo DOCG 2016

Another simplified nebbiolo in La Morra Barolo dress albeit with a next level quality of concentration, chewiness and heft. Tannins are relatively mild and so it’s like Langhe Riserva, if there were such a thing. Lovely to drink, any night of the week. Drink 2020-2024. Tasted January 2020

Burzi Alberto Barolo DOCG Capalot 2016

A bit of rose in the La Morra nose candy and a scrape of orange zest mark the entry before this Capalot nebbiolo gets down to serious tannic business. A clear message of ripe citrus melts into a fruity tisane with a few herbs and leaves stepped in for good measure. Fun little La Morra and neatly soothing. Drink 2021-2026. Tasted January 2020

***** Cagliero Barolo DOCG Ravera 2016

Yet another completely different expression of Ravera and showing the great diversity of wines made from the cru. Tonality is higher but not so high as to shine so bright you need to wear shades. Builds and builds, first from ripe red fruit then through fine acids and elastic texture then to really fine tannins. A ver precise and accomplished Novello Barolo with so much life laying put on a red carpet ahead. Drink 2023-2034. Tasted January 2020

Camparo Barolo DOCG Boiolo 2016

Very tisane in its aromatic beginnings, like Rooibos with a wedge of lemon. A bit lean and musty, like cool climate pinot noir from a less than ideal fruit vintage, here from Boiolo cru in La Morra. Drink 2020-2021. Tasted January 2020

Cantina Del Nebbiolo Barolo DOCG Perno 2016

Perno of another Monforte d’Alba stripe and colour, a bit dank and reductive, left to its own devices within the imbalance of its unhinging. Gives you its heart but you want its soul. Drink 2022-2026. Tasted January 2020

Carlo Revello & Figli Barolo DOCG 2016

Different sort of La Morra nebbiolo here, part tisane and part liqueur. Not sure it knows what it prefers to be. Hard to be both. The fruit seems concentrated on the nose but stretches leaner on the slightly dilute palate. Good enough. Drink 2020-2023. Tasted January 2020

Casa E. Di Mirafiore Barolo DOCG Lazzarito 2016

Quite the firm Serralunga d’Alba nebbiolo from Lazzarito cru right here, grippy in every respect, transparent, reeking of rose petals and old-school in many right ways. Does the singular thing it should and does it really well. Not so very multi-dimensional nor does it need to be. Drink 2021-2026. Tasted January 2020

Giuliana Drocco and Simone Ortale, Cascina Adelaide

***** Cascina Adelaide Barolo DOCG Baudana 2016

From Serralunga d’Alba and because though this is just a baby doubled down by the forceful cru it is a highly precocious little one, with thanks to a vintage that opens earlier in this part of town. This may be a funny way to start the description of a very big wine but the intuition and clarity spoken by the 80 year-old vines is massive in missive, front loaded with fruit, acid and tannin. Back loaded too so expect a 20 year journey, give or take a few. Drink 2023-2034. Tasted January 2020

Cascina Adelaide Barolo DOCG Cannubi 2016 ($112.00)

From Barolo’s grand vineyard and in the hands of Simone Ortale a most elegant representation. Lighter, transparent, more floral aromatica and only handled inside the cellar by grandi botti. The result is also a sharper, pointed, high acidity nebbiolo, with more energy and lift. While still just an infant you can’t escape from seeing and tasting Adelaide’s Cannubi this way. Drink 2021-2030. Tasted January 2020

Cascina Adelaide Barolo DOCG Fossati 2016

A bit over to right side of extraction and concentration for Fossati driving forward with drying fruit mixed into the gregarious personality of the wine. The extra push of spice and herbal accents come with some Bretty quality along from La Morra as if like Rhône grenache in a warm vintage. Cool and frontal, fully unabashed in untamed beauty. Tannins need time though too much will go too far. Undeniable power. Drink 2021-2027. Tasted January 2020

Cascina Adelaide Barolo DOCG Pernanno 2016

From Castiglione Falletto and one of eight cru produced by winemaker Simone Ortale. So apposite to what comes from Baudana, here more delicate, soft (even mores so than the Italian morbido) and an unseen nebbiolo to match with foods not necessarily associated with Barolo. When thinking pinot noir, think again. Think Pernanno. Drink 2021-2025. Tasted January 2020

Cascina Adelaide Barolo DOCG Preda 2016

Preda meaning “strong point,” a vineyard right in front of the winery and 25 years old. As a nebbiolo it is the rustic one, at the bottom of the Barolo hill and also planted to barbera. A rich marl and sandy soil so opposite to the marly silt of Cannubi. A touch hematic in a mixture of iodine and blood orange with clear herbal and red citrus running through its veins.Though maturity and wisdom may not be at the levels of the likes of Baudana and Pernanno the effect are purely Adelaide. Drink 2020-2024. Tasted January 2020

Cascina Ballarin Barolo DOCG Bussia 2016

A bright and effusive Bussia for Monforte d’Alba nebbiolo can be just like this. A Barolo happy in the moment, full of berries and red citrus, with acids up front and tannins unobtrusive. A Barolo to drink now and for five-plus years while the tough ones sit and stew. Drink 2021-2025. Tasted January 2020

Cascina Ballarin Barolo DOCG Bricco Rocca 2016

Freshness of fruit comes clear and concise in this nebbiolo from Bricco Rocca in La Morra. Crunchy red fruit, of currants and candied roses with fine acidity and not so much easy as tannins that can’t be dealt with. A really pretty Barolo. Drink 2021-2027. Tasted January 2020

***** Cascina Boschetti Barolo DOCG Boschetti 2016

Lovely estate Barolo vineyard touch and gentle slide with rose petal and the mildest concrete meeting salumi cure. More than sneaky tannin but this slow creep and rise up to a yet unreachable crescendo. Star, painted Rothko swaths of rustic colour but so pure, so clean and so modern, yet not. Boschetti. Drink 2022-2031. Barrel sample tasted January 2020

Cascina Chicco Barolo DOCG Castelletto 2016

Light and airy, no real need for brooding and like a full moon rising this goes dancing in the light. Knows where the music’s playing, feels the night. Nebbiolo like a Neil Young tune strummed on a harvest moon. Drink 2020-2022. Tasted January 2020

Cascina Del Monastero Di Grasso Giuseppe Barolo DOCG Bricco Luciani 2016

Classic La Morra really, light and transparent, tart and comforting. Some bitters and tonic as well though more like drops in a rosewater cocktail. This really brings the roses, dried, distilled and then soft to drying tannins. Drink 2021-2025. Tasted January 2020

Plin

Cascina Sòt Barolo DOCG 2016

Peppery reductive, full fruit development ensured, ripe and regal Monforte d’Alba nebbiolo. Great palate presence, focused and highly tannic. Acids are the glue and the catalyst for fun. Will please so many, of any and all camps. Drink 2021-2028. Barrel sample tasted January 2020

Cascina Sòt Barolo DOCG Bricco San Pietro 2016

Here the citrus in namely orange stylistic is mixed with cured salumi in a Bricco San Pietro nebbiolo of firm Monforte d’Alba form. Texture forms a step up and creates a new mood for older styled clothing. This is a classic in its particular and parochial way in how it talks the talk and walks the walk to complete a sense and for a place. Really proper and will live long. Drink 2022-2030. Tasted January 2020

Casetta Flli Barolo DOCG Casa Nere 2016

Classic, old-school, rich and dusty nebbiolo from the Casa Nere cru in La Morra. Some mustiness but a cool savour that speaks to ancient soil and the adage that tells us nebbiolo needs time and the glass. This will come around. Drink 2022-2028. Tasted January 2020

Castello Di Verduno Barolo DOCG 2016

Lightly candied, tea soaked and orange citrus macerated. Solid and Verduno purposed, slightly old-school and perfectly seasoned for some good Barolo times. Drink 2021-2026. Tasted January 2020

Cavalier Bartolomeo Barolo DOCG Altenasso O Garblet Suè O Garbelletto Superiore 2016

So bloody volatile and hematic valentine. Earthy fruit and crunchy texture, finishing with tough tannin. Drink 2021-2024. Tasted January 2020

***** Cavallotto Barolo DOCG Bricco Boschis 2016

Bigger, thicker, fuller packed Bricco Boschis nebbiolo is this, of greater concentration and without compromise. The consistency carries through, from the aromatic start, with an startling chromatic burst, through the waves of palate strength and energy. Then with tannic thrush so integrated and yet unyielding. That’s how structure ensures longevity. Drink 2022-2032. Tasted January 2020

***** Conterno Fantino Barolo DOCG Sorì Ginestra 2016

Ginestra is a Monforte d’Alba animal altogether different. So rich, compact, rife with connective tissue and full on expressive. Big in every respect beginning with its berry and cherry fruit all the way down through the lines of structural adversity. So much gumption, attitude and power. Must be the sun, the exposition and the heights. The Sorì Drink 2022-2029. Tasted January 2020

Cordero Di Montezemolo Barolo DOCG Monfalletto 2016

An advancing nebbiolo is like this with fruit very developed and tannins keeping things from going soft or past prime. In its wheelhouse just about already, integrated, playing as one, ready to match the table. Make use of this Barolo while more formidable examples take their sweet time. Drink 2021-2027. Tasted January 2020

Costa Di Bussia Tenuta Arnulfo Barolo DOCG Bussia 2016

So many things to fault here. Volatility at the top, barnyard below and the shower curtain drawn. Obviously a flawed bottle. Barrel Sample tasted January 2020

Crissante Barolo DOCG Del Comune Di La Morra 2016

Up there in terms of tones played and light, in cherry and rose water. A hint of liquorice and fennochio so savoury in an aniseed way. Tart, chewy and from the La Morra earth. Solid commune-based nebbiolo. Drink 2021-2027. Tasted January 2020

Lalibera, Alba

Crissante Alessandria Barolo DOCG Capalot 2016

A quiet La Morra nose, a cool factor, a mint to evergreen line but oh so subtle as such. Good strength in acidity and command in tannin. This is a confident wine with Capalot bones and some fruit substance to cling on, hang around and be there when the integration takes place. Drink 2022-2028. Tasted January 2020

Curto Marco Barolo DOCG Arborina 2016

Dusty and rusty La Morra-Arborina nebbiolo, earth-crusted and fruit just a touch dried. Seems older than ’16 and were it a five to seven year-old Barolo it would seem perfectly suited and aged for what should and even must be. Lacks freshness for 2016 but truth be told it would come across as true and worthy without the stigmata of vintage attached. Drink 2020-2022. Tasted January 2020

Diego Conterno Barolo DOCG Del Commune Di Monforte d’Alba 2016

Wild berries meet juicy acidity in one of those Monforte d’Alba nebbiolo that rushed to the secondary gate and should remain there for a few years. Knows itself before many do and that advanced personality will see it drink beyond its age while others wait to grow up. Drink 2020-2024. Tasted January 2020

Diego Pressenda Barolo DOCG Le Coste Di Monforte 2016

Quickly the tone of Le Coste di Monforte is revealed, on the light and drying side of nebbiolo things with a wild berry note that’s subtle and rewarding. Tannins seem to exceed the fruit a touch though they care little for bitters. Drink 2021-2026. Tasted January 2020

Diego Pressenda Barolo DOCG Bricco San Pietro 2016

Rich, ripe and developed at least as far as 2016 sugars are conceded and concerned. Goes at it wholeheartedly, without hesitation and includes a minor note of verdancy. The wood fills in the holes and you notice it. I promise you. Drink 2021-2024. Tasted January 2020

Dosio Barolo DOCG 2016

Spice notes on the nose take centre stage so wood is the immediate factor of record. Tannins follow suit and in between is acidity quite fine and very respectable. This is an architectural nebbilolo from the La Morra producer of perfectly reasonable ubiquity and top notch seasoning. Drink 2021-2028. Barrel sample tasted January 2020

Dosio Barolo DOCG Serradenari 2016

Candied and earthy at the same time so feet in two worlds and not really quite connected at the twain. Crunchy tannin with a fruit lingering nicely in its youthful time of need. Solid La Morra if not truly remarkable Serradenari Barolo. Drink 2021-2025. Barrel sample tasted January 2020

With Giorgio Boschis

E. Pira & Figli Barolo DOCG Via Nuova 2016

Via Nuova is the assemblage, the house wine, Vigna della Casa and a wine of all encompassing perfume. A mix of finesse and structure. Also textured with a charming glycerin and experiential moments in thyme. There is much pride and dreaming hope for 2016, with great aging potential. The tannins creep up, take hold and remain, secured and bonded. That’s nebbiolo grip and persistence incarnate. Drink 2023-2035. Tasted December 2019 and January 2020

***** E. Pira & Figli Barolo DOCG Mosconi 2016

Why is Mosconi so special. “Why is anyone more beautiful than the other?” Nature. A connection to Domenico Clerico and when Chiara had a chance to join this plot she jumped. The flowers come at you in waves. The fruit is everywhere and all is stored inside, kept safe, comforted and comfortable. South facing below the village and again it just must be the place that brings this level of joy, elegance and structure. There are 25-30 years of life ahead for this 2016. So glad Chiara became a part of la squadra Mosconi. Drink 2020-2025. Tasted December 2019 and January 2020

Elvio Cogno Barolo Cascina Nuova DOCG 2016 ($54.95)

“I consider 2016…a perfect vintage,” says Valter Fissore, “fresh, elegant and complex.” This comes from the youngest vines, under 17 years old, made for those who don’t want to wait 20 years. A Barolo that you could not find 20 years ago, from a blue vintage, the best kind. Yes, a true blue vintage it is, not just a simple blue and so very different to barbera. Fine tannins but ones that are very present. They build but not too much. “My Barolo are neither traditional nor modern. They are post-modern.” Drink 2022-2030. Tasted January 2020

***** Elvio Cogno Barolo DOCG Ravera 2016

A 50 day maceration with a big amount of capello sumerso and 24 months of botti aging. From the blue vintage and fruit in the heart of La Morra that is the epitome of Ravera. Grippy and smooth, silken texture and tannins at their parochial finest. Savoury and sapid, wound tight and walking a straight line. No angles, no edges, niente spiggolo. Reminds Valter of Elvio’s Brunate ’78, at least in style; drinkability, sweetness and texture. Can bend without breaking, inveterate, elastic, long and eternal. Drink 2024-2036. Tasted January 2020

Enrico Serafino Barolo DOCG Del Commune Di Serralunga d’Alba 2016

A slightly warm annd boozy nebbiolo this one, warm site(s) in Serralunga d’Alba derived and delivering a wealth of spiced red fruit. Again it is acidity that directs the motive and the plan. Just a touch overripe and overdone. Drink 2020-2022. Tasted January 2020

***** Enzo Boglietti Barolo DOCG Fossati 2016

Ah Fossati and its flirtatious aromatics, cheery, cherry and floral. A candied pansy and rose, a red citrus and a lightning quick set of fruit reflexes. Terrific texture, presence and finesse. Does what needs, for La Morra, come what may. Proper, elaborate and fine. Drink 2022-2031. Barrel sample tasted January 2020

Ettore Germano Barolo DOCG Cerretta 2016 ($89.00)

The most reductive Serralunga d’Alba nebbiolo in the day’s tasting thus far is this cracked pepper one sprinkled over a hard savoury candied shell. What fierce and grippy structure this killer Cerretta exhibits with no prisoners taken, so none can be released. Well perhaps in five or so years there will be some sort of release and while fruit is pretty strong in its own right I’m not so certain it will keep up with the Joneses. Drink 2023-2029. Tasted January 2020

Fenocchio Giacomo Barolo DOCG Villero 2016

Similar Villero transparency, effusive character and boundless possibility. Never needing to strike with force or command attention. The fruit concentration steps up with this example as does the acid-tannic lineage. The texture and drying, sear-sucking, moisture deprivation is noted so balance is just a bit teetering. Still Villero though, from Castiglione Falletto. Drink 2022-2026. Tasted January 2020

Figli Luigi Oddero Barolo DOCG 2016

All things being equal there is nebbiolo, Barolo and overall ubiquitous personality emanating from this wide-ranging one. Takes everything in stride, assembles the parts and creates the classic construct of local apparatus. Everyone can use this machine and use it well for a decade. Drink 2021-2028. Tasted January 2020

Fogliati Barolo DOCG Bussia 2016

Lovely aromatic beginning, floral, near racy and if smells were juicy this would be how they were. The palate follows suit with plenty of flesh, also provided by buoyant acidity. Crisp, clear, clean and nothing short of drinkable. Stuffing is ample and to be honest a breath of fresh, not kill you with tannin air. Quality Bussia out of Monforte d’Alba. Drink 2021-2025. Tasted January 2020

Fontanafredda Barolo DOCG Fontanafredda 2016 ($33.00)

Quite ripe and effusive at the same time, part fruit juicy and part bright red citrus light. A middle road taken Serralunga d’Alba nebbiolo with prominent features and structurally sound constitution. Quite composed, grippy and ready to take on a ten year run. Drink 2021-2029. Tasted January 2020

Fontanafredda Barolo DOCG Del Commune Di Serralunga d’Alba 2016

Quite ripe, overly so, extracted, pressed and compressed. The concentration is clearly impressive though there’s not much substance behind the fruity veil. Will drink well for a few years and then fall asleep into an oxidative state. From Serralunga d’Alba. Drink 2020-2024. Tasted January 2020

***** Fontana Livia Barolo DOCG Villero 2016

Now into the Castiglione Falletto nebbiolo of Villero, so apposite, ulterior and offering the great change of pace. Firm, transparent, beautiful. Seemingly simple and just lovely there can be no hiding feelings that this from Castiglione Falletto is holding back layers lining the floor of the depths. The subtleties are boundless and the finesse too. Some may find this lacking but if you can’t see the forest for the flesh you not be paying close enough attention. Drink 2022-2031. Tasted January 2020

Fortemasso Barolo DOCG Castelletto 2016

An apposite Castelletto from Monforte d’Alba, still transparent but with fruit and substance of a deeper heart. No real glycerin to the texture and though it shines through there too is a next level layer of concentration. Perhaps not in comparison to certain storied cru but in quality compassion nonetheless. Drink 2021-2027. Tasted January 2020

A completely new Italian experience through a lens into the streets of curious Cherasco.

Fracassi Umberto Barolo DOCG Manteoetto 2016

Somewhat closed nose though you can tell even without tasting that the palate will be rich. Deep cherry notes come across that transition and there is indeed this creamy texture leading down a path to lactic taste. Winemaking is on display here. From Cherasco. Drink 2022-2027. Barrel sample tasted January 2020

Franco Boasso Barolo DOCG Margheria 2016

Strength in protection and reduction makes this a Serralunga d’Alba nebbiolo to look at in protractive ways. A touch of Brett is clearly in the fray so expect an earthy, grippy and woolly Margheria for the long haul and the stay. Not going anywhere for quite some time. Drink 2023-2029. Tasted January 2020

Franco Boasso Barolo DOCG Gabutti 2016 ($46.95)

There’s a next level set of circumstances presented and acquiescesd in this Serralunga d’Alba nebbiolo from the prominent and formidable cru of Gabutti. Fruit is big time while structural components are bigger. There can be little reason to go at it all in while so youthful because better and more integrated lies ahead. Liquid chalky, fine acidity and textural identity define and get in the face of tension so that movement happens and will continue in this positive way. Drink 2022-2030. Tasted January 2020

Franco Conterno Barolo DOCG Panerole 2016

So much wood influence as noted by the vanilla, graphite and even American-oak like coconut on the nose. Hides the nebbiolo character entirely. Drink 2022-2027. Barrel sample tasted January 2020

Francone Barolo DOCG 2016

Overripe and oxidative. Dried flowers and fruit. Drink 2020. Tasted January 2020

Francesco Rinaldi E Figli Barolo DOCG Cannubi 2016

Quite youthful and candied strawberry Cannubi. Younger vines perhaps and a bit of bubble gum-jammy aromatic start. After that all tannin and grip. Drink 2021-2025. Barrel sample tasted January 2020

***** Fratelli Alessandria Barolo DOCG Monvigliero 2016

Here is yet another stunning aromatic Verduno nebbiolo from Monvigliero albeit once again so stupidly youthful so as to get in the way of the knowing and the wanting. Lovely palate texture, silken and fine. All the structural attributes follow suit, in precision and long a perfectly reasonable line. Will be a great one. Drink 2023-2031. Barrel sample tasted January 2020

Fratelli Serio & Battista Borgogno Barolo DOCG 2016

Very structured, highly classic and fruit secondary though righteous and proper enough to hang aboard a solid framework of Barolo ubiquity. Classic Novello in so many understood and expected ways. Drink 2022-2029. Tasted January 2020

G.D. Vajra Barolo DOCG Baudarina

Richer and more extracted nebbiolo from Serralunga d’Alba and Baudarina is just this. That said the concentration from ripeness and pressing has has not brought along the negative aspects in tow. No astringency, verdancy or bitters so that’s a very good thing. Drink younger while more demanding commune crus bide their time. Drink 2021-2025. Tasted January 2020

***** G.D. Vajra Barolo DOCG Bricco Delle Viole 2016

Gagliasso Mario Barolo DOCG Torriglione 2016

A highly specific nebbiolo from Torriglione, fruity but shy, tempered and distilled. A liqueur like nose but nothing too heavy, sweet, salty or sour. Ulterior and finessed, sharp and mineral, spiced and even spicy. A real La Morra Barolo with the ability to allow you to find joy in a half decade’s time. Drink 2022-2029. Tasted January 2020

Gagliasso Mario Barolo DOCG Rocche Dell’annunziata 2016

Another fine exampe from Rocche dell’Annunziata where there just seems to be a collective intuition for righteous, classic and proper. Great structure and concentration right here, second to none. Prime La Morra Barolo, primal nebbiolo and primo execution. Drink 2022-2029. Tasted January 2020

Garesio Barolo DOCG Del Commune Di Serralunga d’Alba 2016

An ulterior version of Barolo from Serralunga is this, high in its tonality and buzzing with energy. The acidity is in full tang while the tannins too do the same. Not so much grippy as full of energy. Very good short term potential. Drink 2020-2023. Tasted January 2020

Garesio Barolo DOCG Gianetto 2016

Quite solid of Serralunga d’Alba bones and equally capable in Gianetto flesh is this high acid dripping with red fruit nebbiolo. Pretty sharp and exceptional in tang from which that acid structure is everything and more. Will drink like this for a few seasons and then fade lightly away. Drink 2020-2024. Tasted January 2020

Gemma Barolo DOCG Del Commune Di Monforte d’Alba 2016

Somewhat thin and dishy Monforte d’Alba nebbiolo without much ado. Purely and clearly varietal in its locality though the drying tannins do not quite match the fruit. Drink 2021-2024. Tasted January 2020

Gemma Barolo DOCG Del Commune Di Serralunga d’Alba 2016

Just smells like liqueur, hot and bothered, no delicacy for what nebbiolo wants and needs. Very extracted, concentrated and full of spicy glycerin, there’s just a lack of love and finesse. Impressive though for and from Serralunga d’Alba. Drink 2021-2023. Tasted January 2020

***** Giacomo Fenocchio Barolo DOCG Bussia 2016

Very aromatic, highly prominent proboscis and spiced to the hilt. One of the very few nebbiolo that noses fennel in very fresh form. Also a tomato aspect but no leaf. Takes what the grand-sized Bussia cru gives and runs with the feeling. No shortage of Monforte d’Alba character or complexity. The winemaker must be pleased with this work from 2016. Drink 2021-2029. Tasted January 2020

Giacomo Grimaldi Barolo DOCG Ravera 2016

A bit troublesome to nose, earthier than expected and a bit subdued. Perhaps just the block in Ravera that broods and sleeps a bit. Calm I suppose is what this Novello nebbiolo needs and chooses to exercise. Continues to flatline with not much tension in the mix. Drink 2020-2024. Tasted January 2020

Giacomo Grimaldi Barolo DOCG Sottocastello Di Novello 2016

Quite up front this Novello nebbiolo sits with great presence. The response will be one met with consideration for greatness and it should merit some of that adulation. That said it’s stretched and youth likely its best attribute. The stuffing is not fully insulating. Drink 2021-2025. Tasted January 2020

Osteria del Signotori

Gian Luca Colombo Vini Barolo DOCG Bricco Ambrogio 2016

Quite right this Bricco Ambrogio. Old school perhaps but finessed, righteous and well executed. Sensical and proper handling translate the Cru to this wine. Tannins are firm and elongated with just the sort of nebbiolo fruit core you expect every time you taste. Really solid wine from Roddi. Drink 2022-2028. Tasted January 2020

Giovanni Rosso Barolo DOCG Cerretta 2016 ($91.50)

Oh my the wealth of strawberry and cherry is exceptional in this juicy Serralunga d’Alba nebbiolo with some dried fruit edging. Shows a converse effect by barrel infiltration that makes it quite the gregarious one. Drink this Cerretta early. Drink 2020-2023. Barrel sample tasted January 2020

Giulia Negri Serradenari Barolo DOCG Serradenari 2016

Stinky, mephitic, closed and ultimately a matter of being heavily reductive. Not much else happening because the palate is stretched and lean. Drink 2021-2024. Tasted January 2020

Grimaldi Luigino & C. Barolo DOCG Bricco San Biagio 2016

Decent fruit concentration though over-pressed and managed so that the latter half is astringent and tannins are concerning for their green streaks. Plausible in the short term, though will be troubling later on. Drink 2021-2024. Barrel sample tasted January 2020

Josetta Saffirio Barolo DOCG Del Commune Di Monforte d’Alba 2016

When nebbiolo emits this wild berry lift it’s just like this. You can fully imagine lying in a patch of June strawberries and eating them one after one. There are a million ways to go with nebbiolo so here presents just one of those ways. More acidity than tannin and that’s just the way this needs to be. From Monforte d’Alba. Drink 2021-2023. Tasted January 2020

I Colli Rossi Barolo DOCG Del Commune Di Monforte d’Alba 2016

Slightly mephitic and full on tang dominate the aromas. Youth is a factor in most reductive ways while mouthfeel is quite special. A disjointed wine now and spirited, spiced, so protracted in a protected shell. Seems like the candied fruit and floral will turn into beauty someday. Much patience needed. From Monforte d’Alba. Drink 2023-2029. Barrel sample tasted January 2020

L’Astemia Pentita Barolo DOCG Cannubi 2016

Volatile and Bretty together for a true lesson in older-schooled, microbial Barolo. Earthy and wet forest, river’s edge fruit. Not a whole hell of a lot of pleasure to derive here. Drink 2021-2024. Barrel sample tasted January 2020

Who makes it happen? They do

La Bioca Barolo DOCG Ravera 2016

Crunchy and candy-savoury fruit with an earthy twist and a seriousness that speaks to Ravera the place. Perfectly middle ground example with weight, transparent clarity and a very expressive nature. Truth be told you feel the wood at the end. so wait on this Novello until tomorrow. Drink 2022-2029. Tasted January 2020

La Carlina Barolo DOCG 2016

Quite ripe and very strawberry, cool, minty, herbal and with top notch acidity. Tannins are chalky, fine and grainy. So youthful and great expectations lay ahead. From Grinzane Cavour. Drink 2022-2029. Tasted January 2020

Le Ginestre Barolo DOCG Sottocastello Di Novello 2016

Big time aromatic Novello front, storm of flowers, ripe fruit and compact forest floor humus. All in with the aromatic wavs and nicely delineated to allow for good quality palate feel. If a touch sappy, the structure follows suit with sweet acids and also tannins. Really good presence and precision in Barolo with a long life ahead. Drink 2022-2030. Tasted January 2020

La Fusina Barolo DOCG Perno 2016

Perno just seems to climb higher and higher, rising with all its parts in flight and unhinged. This Monforte d’Alba example carries a deeper sense of weight but still its temperature rises. All in for the sense of place. Drink 2022-2027. Tasted January 2020

La Rachilana Barolo DOCG 2016

Strong mocker this Monforte d’Alba nebbiolo, fully reasoned, ripened and seasoned. Absolute clarity in vintage notability; rich, aggressive and tannic. Nothing held back and time is of the apposite essence. Drink 2022-2028. Tasted January 2020

Le Cecche Barolo DOCG Bricco San Pietro 2016

Harkens back to the adage of Bricco San Pietro being a cru of orange scrape in a citric range. Simple here from Monforte d’Alba, syrupy with spice and tannic liquidity. Representative if coming across a bit juiced sweet. Drink 2021-2024. Tasted January 2020

Le Strette Barolo DOCG 2016

More gregarious to nose with plenty of citrus, namely red of pomegranate and currant. Also a tomato leafiness and/or water that brings the verdant savour. Wood spice all over the back end, beginning with a peppery pique in the trip of the tongue . From Bergera-Pezzole cru in Novello. Drink 2022-2028. Barrel sample tasted January 2020

Lodali Barolo DOCG Bricco Ambrogio 2016

Simple, fruity, unadorned and not particularly structured there is some basic pleasure to find in this young Roddi nebbiolo. The Bricco Ambrogio tannins are late arriving and don’t stay particularly long. Drink 2021-2025. Tasted January 2020

Checkpoint Cherasco

M. Marengo Barolo DOCG Brunate 2016

Sugary aromatic waft of plum, peach, apricot and orange. Almost a saffron-like botrytis but its faux and curious. Texture is of the crusted and crunchy kind with a structure linear and polar when considering the nose of this La Morra nebbiolo. Curious Brunate for sure. Drink 2022-2027. Tasted January 2020

M. Marengo Barolo DOCG Bricco Delle Viole 2016

Quietest of the Bricco delle Viole, set highest atop the Barolo hill’s tone, equipped with the chalkiest, finest tannic grain. This one sears within, into and inside, lined with the dried, crusted petal florals and a curative strip. Crunchy and crusted, white pepper and great purpose. Drink 2022-2029. Tasted January 2020

Malvirà Barolo DOCG Boiolo 2016

Good if very transparent fruit concentration, currants and pomegranate, tannins a bit tart, taut and drying. Herbal and an Amaro note. Flattens at the finish. Drink 2020-2021. Barrel sample tasted January 2020

Marengo Mauro Barolo DOCG 2016

A solid tannic example of nebbiolo with a penchant for firmness and drying notes to match the fruit content of a good vintage. Crunchy and crusted, herbal and cool climate factored. Should turn into something very proper. Drink 2021-2027. Barrel sample tasted January 2020

Mauro Molino

Mauro Molino Barolo DOCG 2016

“Classic” Barolo from three Monforte d’Alba vineyards, including Béri and Conca L’Annunziata planted in 1982. Round, rife with ripe ’16 fruit. Neither pushy nor risky, meaning the sweet acids and gentle tannins simply round out the possibilities. So pleasant and that’s what this is all about. Ideal restaurant Barolo. Drink 2020-2024. Tasted January 2020

Mauro Molino Barolo DOCG Conca 2016

From La Morra commune and Conca cu. Very pressed, slightly oxidative and welling with cherry liqueur. Some sweetness and pushy tannin. Drink 2021-2023. Tasted January 2020

Mauro Molino Barolo DOCG Gallinotto 2016 ($74.95)

Gallinotto is 100 per cent from Béri, the oldest vineyard and meaning “a small chicken,” from Piedmontese dialect, now also Italian. There is as much earthy substance as substantial fruit from Béri though not as savoury as you might think. Very grounded with roundness and texture on the palate. All the parts coalesce into classic nebbiolo patterning and you intuit a further purpose yet to be revealed. Drink 2021-2026. Tasted January 2020

Mauro Molino Barolo DOCG La Serra 2016

As the name suggests, La Serra comes a single vineyard in la Morra. Fashioned with power in mind, this is a small lot, raised in small casks nebbiolo to fortify and strengthen for a fulsome wine. The vanilla and graphite are prominent early and the transference to integration will be low and slow. Highly concentrated though also woollen, silken and a very linear wine. Drink 2021-2029. Tasted January 2020

Mauro Sebaste Barolo DOCG Cerretta 2016

From Serralunga d’Alba, three years in tonneaux, a light and lifted nebbiolo from Cerretta cru. High-toned and also showing some rusticity across a range of dried floral and herbal potpourri. Roses for sure and a wood in space-time continuum. Classic really. Drink 2021-2026. Tasted January 2020

Mauro Sebaste Barolo DOCG Trèsüri 2016

From three parcels located quite proximate to Roncaglie in La Morra, inclusing 20 per cent of fruit from Cerretta. Three parcels on the highest parts of the hill gift fruit to spend three years in Grandi Botti. An easy, amenable and approachable Barolo for4 everyday use. Tons of sunshine, ripe fruit and ready, perforce to proceed. Drink 2020-2023. Tasted January 2020

Mauro Veglio Barolo DOCG Gattera 2016

Richness and concentration on the nose like few other La Morra with palate texture using the land and the barrel to full advantage. Some earthiness and beetroot with sharp acids and demanding tannins. Big wine from Gattera with potential for those who like things in such packages. Drink 2022-2030. Tasted January 2020

Monchiero F. Lli Barolo DOCG Del Commune Di Castiglione Falletto 2016

Cool, savoury, climatic old-school nebbiolo with all the classic moves and parts. Rose petal, tight acidity and dry your eyes, demanding tannins. Also peppery and pushy. Drink 2022-2025. Tasted January 2020

Monchiero F. Lli Barolo DOCG Rocche Di Castiglione 2016

Intense aromas speak louder and tell a quicker if deeper Castiglione Falletto story about a place (Rocche di Castiglione) and the potential. Smell this and exclaim. “Wow.” there’s a depth and a power, albeit a restrained one that is so modern and purposeful. Full in every respect, more so acidity than tannin but the latter is not exactly slumped in slouch formation. The excessiveness will work to dramatic early effect though not for decades. Drink 2021-2027. Tasted January 2020

Morra Diego Barolo DOCG 2016

A curious perfume, flowers desiccated and macerating in a simple syrup. A faux botrytis like saffron broth perhaps with plums and sangria like notes. Unusual and then raisining on the palate. Almost tropical. A style to be sure and worth watching the progression. Drink 2020-2024. Tasted January 2020

Morra Diego Barolo DOCG Monvigliero 2016

Taut, dusty, cinnamon-spiced and hard to get. So youthful, way too early to speculate and yet the aromatics speak to Monvigliero’s ability and to its charm. Gets inside the Verduno nose and never relents. Drink 2022-2028. Barrel sample tasted January 2020

***** Negretti Barolo DOCG Rive 2016

Getting down to the gritty La Morra earth and the nitty grip in nebbiolo from Rive cru that takes little heed in the need to keep prisoners. Crunchy and full barrel effect in place with fine-grains of tannin filling every nook and pore. Will ride out two decades of development through funghi umami and tartufo. Drink 2023-2033. Tasted January 2020

***** Oddero Barolo DOCG Brunate 2016

Harder and tougher than other Brunate in that all parts are tense, nervous and demanding in such expedient youth. There needs to be a low and slow unwind to get to the heart of the nebbiolo matter. Will turn and morph into something crucial for La Morra. Drink 2023-2030. Tasted January 2020

Paolo Manzone Barolo DOCG 2016

Very pressed, extracted and ropey without much energy or drive, There are some grains of tannin but the waning is already in. Drink up and use what Serralunga d’Alba pleasures are contained within the here and now. Drink 2020-2022. Tasted January 2020

Paolo Manzone Barolo DOCG Meriame 2016 ($57.95)

Serious nose for this Serralunga d’Alba nebbiolo with a grand tisane mixed into the gangly and gamey parts of the constituent plan. Tannic in so many ways, not the least of which is the steeping sachet of herbs, spices and all the parts of Meriame’s land. Drink 2022-2027. Tasted January 2020

***** Palladino Barolo DOCG Parafada 2016 ($72.95)

There’s something stirring in this formidably structured Serralunga d’Alba nebbiolo, something about fruit but so much more about spice. All sorts of red citrus, seasoning, tar and roses abounds in a mess of Parafada fruit, Impressive, structured and long. Drink 2023-2032. Tasted January 2020

Alessandro Olocco

***** Palladino Barolo DOCG Ornato 2016

Ornato is at the higher ranges of Serralunga d’Alba, all clay and no sand. Same elévage as Parafada, meaning 24 montbs in Grandi Botti and French oak, pus a further 24 months in bottle. So much more charming than what we often consider as being Serralunga, Conversely grippy, big and intense. Soil’s tension passes and threads through the structure and it sticks because of the great concentration. Aggressive without astringency. Will live 20-25 years easy. Drink 2023-2033. Tasted January 2020

Parusso Armando Barolo DOCG 2016

The salumi cure and high toned aromatics are a dead give away for style and for what sort of chalky-sandy-marly soils this must have come from. Also developed and full of fruit that has made its full phenolic journey through to a late harvest. Will offer up its best pleasure earlier rather than later. Drink 2020-2022. Tasted January 2020

Pecchenino Barolo DOCG Bussia 2016

Youthfully reductive in fact dramatically so and wound so very tight. Rich and and not yet gracefully textural but smooth and capable of turning supple. A minor aromatic distraction comes from a microbe undefined. We’ll see which way this Bussia from Monforte d’Alba decides to go. Drink 2021-2028. Barrel sample tasted January 2020

***** Pecchenino Barolo DOCG Le Coste Di Monforte 2016

Quite the rich and substantial fruit component in this from Le Coste in Monforte d’Alba and no surprise from the exceptional cru. You would have to be a fool of a big and misguided scheme to mess up Le Coste. The glycerin and palate presence are nothing short of grand in the way of how fruit works with barrel pride. This is for you who want a mouthful of Barolo. Mosconi abides. Drink 2023-2031. Barrel sample tasted January 2020

Pelassa Barolo DOCG San Lorenzo Di Verduno 2016

Quite high toned with plenty of chocolate on the nose from wood. Too much tension and tartness to the point of high distraction. Vinyl and dusty. Too much. Drink 2020-2022. Tasted January 2020

Piazzo Comm. Armando Barolo DOCG Novello 2016

Quite extracted, syrupy and almost jammy nebbiolo. Even a touch oxidative and moving quickly, especially across the oxalate palate. No notability in the tannic structure. Drink 2020-2023. Tasted January 2020

Pio Cesare Barolo DOCG 2016 ($71.25)

A blend of communes for true estate blending business. Rich and developed dark fruit that goes for broke right from the word go. Also major tannins of mean business and some final bitters. No turning back from this one. Drink 2022-2026. Tasted January 2020

Pira Luigi Barolo DOCG Margheria 2016

Oddly perfumed and quirky with big tannic thrush over delicate textured fruit. A bit disjointed though the singularity and offer to connect with a sense of place (Margheria in Serralunga d’Alba) makes this a nebbiolo to look forward to, somewhere four to five years down the road. Drink 2022-2028. Tasted January 2020

Poderi Marcarini Barolo DOCG Del Commune Di La Morra 2016

Light, effusive and mild tisane of orange peel, herbs and woodsies. Lots of wood here and time is needed though it’s far from a spicy affair. Soft in texture and potential possible. Remains to be seen if there is enough fruit. Gotta have fruit. Hopefully that La Morra fruit. Drink 2022-2028. Tasted January 2020

***** Poderi Marcarini Barolo DOCG La Serra 2016

Curious aromas, almost bloody, candied, floral. Such red fruit is a delicacy, exotic, floral again and even a touch reductive. A liqueur d’expedition in a way or in so many ways. Some mustiness needs to dissipate and when it does will reveal nothing but flowers. Tannins will not be forgotten, mistaken or forsaken. They from La Serra in La Morra mean business. Drink 2023-2033. Tasted January 2020

Podere Ruggeri Corsini Barolo DOCG Bricco San Pietro 2016

More orange scrape in the many varied citrus scents in this Bricco San Pietro. The cru gives and continues to give this way. Nice delineation if a bit lean in terms of feel across the palate. Simpler and easy as it comes. Drink 2021-2023. Tasted January 2020

Poderi Colla Barolo DOCG Bussia 2016

Cracker crusted Monforte d’Alba nebbiolo, firm, grippy and jumpy. Certainly still a minor amount of reduction keeps this fresh and intact. Not yet ready for prime time though the stuffing, bones and flesh are all there to make it happen. Remains to be seen if too firm and grippy Bussia get in the way. Drink 2023-20229. Tasted January 2020

Poderi Luigi Einaudi Barolo DOCG Cannubi 2016

As per the Cannubi prefect here Barolo commune presents the taut form, firm grip and tension filled youth. Località uncanny and far from entering a state of unraveling. Cool centre, savoury middle ground and firm as heck finale. Will always lay and be like this. Drink 2022-2027. Tasted January 2020

Principiano Giuseppe Barolo DOCG Boscareto 2016

Very pressed and already oxidative. Not sure this will every offer bright and lively pleasure. Perhaps an off bottle. Drink 2020-2022. Barrel sample tasted January 2020

Raineri Barolo DOCG Perno 2016

Now we see that Perno can deliver so many different things. In here the tobacco is strong, lit and smouldering. Quite herbal as well, richly juiced and strong as tannic tea. Massive Monforte d’Alba wine with tannins of great demand. Needs the most amount of time but clearly the stuffing is there. Drink 2023-2029. Tasted January 2020

Renato Ratti Barolo DOCG Rocche Dell’annunziata 2016

On the earthier and swarthy side for Rocche dell’Annunziata with red plummy fruit crusted by clay and mineral salts. Still it can be nothing but La Morra Barolo from this storied cru what with its structural components seamlessly woven together. Another respectful nebbiolo with attention paid to local detail. Drink 2021-2027. Tasted January 2020

Renato Ratti Barolo DOCG Marcenasco 2016 ($59.95)

Pretty nebbiolo from La Morra, simplified, rose-candied and full of expressive fruit. Some will scoff at the lack of structure and seriousness but who could not want to seek the pleasure in its bright tones and lightness of being? Is it Barolo? Marcenasco? Of course it is. Drink 2020-2026. Tasted January 2020

Réva Barolo DOCG 2016 ($66.15)

Another highly seasoned nebbiolo of rather dark red fruit and barrel piques that create spikes and valleys in the wine. Hangs on with enough energy to see the acidity match the fruit stride for stride. There’s a sense of structure to see this ’16 last for a decade strong and long. Drinking window will open shortly so the temptation will be to imbibe often and early, thereby fertilizing the narcotic poppy of drinking pleasure. Drink 2022-2030. Tasted January 2020

***** Réva Barolo DOCG Cannubi 2016 ($251.95)

There is plenty to attract and be attracted to from this swarthy and regaling Cannubi. Big red fruit, dried wild strawberry, tart raspberry and very firm tannins. The pressing and subsequent astringency are temporary but will lead to an earthbound secondary stage. Tasted Blind, January 2020

Réva’s Cannubi is based or is the extension of an idea, initialized in 2012, to have three different expressions in Barolo. The search is for elegance of La Morra or Barolo and the structure of Serralunga or Monforte. The third is a combination and that is found in Ravera. The Cannubi plot was owned by Fratelli Barale, a Cannubi di Cannubi right next to the cemetery of Barolo. It’s still a rented property and will be owned at the end of a 10 year contract. Pure Barolo, close your eyes and this is recognizable as the dictionary entry. Hue as in deep depths of pure red with a streak of light. Palate of acidity and fine tannins with length. Rich without being too strong. Not closed, does not attack your mouth and yet there is grip to keep it moving forward. Really fine tannins and fruitful pleasure. Drink 2022-2032. Tasted January 2020

***** Réva Barolo Riserva DOCG Lazzarito 2016 ($337.95)

The single-vineyard cru Lazzarito is added in 2016 and it is Daniele Gaia’s first harvest at Réva. Drive the best car and drive it right away. “This is the best wine Réva has never made,“ says Gaia with great irony mixed into humility. Tasted from low temperatures (22-24 degrees) in tank there was fear of Lazzarito’s tannins. Here above Serralunga a long strip on the top of the eastern side of the hill gives a marl-calcaire meets sandy soil and so the best of both structural worlds; freshness (also from high pH) and grip. Yes it’s silly young and impressionable but already handsome, unadorned and fruit so crunchy, yet also sapid, a pinch salty and the impression of acidity is a freshness with thanks to that elevated pH. A sample but already in bottle and will be released in two years. Drink 2024-2036. Tasted January 2020

Revello Fratelli Barolo DOCG Cerretta 2016

Solid Serralunga d’Alba juice in far right extraction without problematic grit. Cerretta Crunchy and tannic, fruit juicy and expressionist. Gives away all of itself and needs nothing in return. Will show well for three, maybe four years. Drink 2020-2024. Tasted January 2020

Reverdito Michele Barolo DOCG La Serra 2016

A big barrel influence on a La Morra nebbiolo of concentration means this will turn into something smooth, chocolatey and secondary before too long. Somewhat one-dimensional for La Serra in that respect. Drink 2021-2025. Tasted January 2020

Reverdito Michele Barolo DOCG Badarina 2016

Light, airy and transparent Serralunga d’Alba Barolo here with a nice balance between grip and finesse. The fruit has been gently coaxed, receives and creates its structural Baudarina identity with relative ease. Top quality mid-weight example. So reminds of the Barolo from Scarpa. Drink 2022-2028. Tasted January 2020

Rinaldi Francesco & Figli Barolo DOCG 2016

A slight oxidative note but still quite attractive with dried strawberry and a natural cure. Quite frankly smells and also tastes like a field blend of grapes picked at different times, stacked and fermented together. Drink 2020-2021. Tasted January 2020

Rizieri Barolo DOCG 2016

Wildly aromatic front, namely untamed strawberry and some verdancy tossed in. Very La Morra nebbiolo in a rich and concentrated way, nearly glycerin, certainly taken full advantage of vintage possibility. Not overly complex or tannic but very, very drinkable. Drink 2020-2024. Barrel sample tasted January 2020

Roberto Sarotto Barolo DOCG Bergera Pezzole 2016

Overtly hot and bothered. deeply rendered and distilled. Heavy extraction and vanilla in waves. So much wood. Drink 2021-2024. Tasted January 2020

***** Rocche Costamagna Barolo DOCG Rocche Dell’annunziata 2016

The brighter and higher toned Rocche dell’Annunziata is this example where fruit is parochial fruit but a steeping and a warmth takes it to a different level. More palate presence and furthered tannic fineness. There’s so much to appreciate and understand here, namely La Morra finesse and beauty. Drink 2022-2031. Tasted January 2020

Rocche Dei Manzoni Barolo DOCG 2016

Wild berries and all the others in the market well up in this most fruity of Monforte d’Alba nebbiolo Barolo noses. It’s almost impossible how much red, blue and black berry fruit is in the mix. There are structural aspects but they pale in comparison. This one-dimensional wine is really something else. Modern is the understatement. Drink 2020-2022. Tasted January 2020

Roccheviberti Barolo DOCG Rocche Di Castiglione 2016

Slightly elevated in its lift and sour entry. Very much in the saffron, blood orange and scraped skin vein. Searing inwards and so bloody implosive Rocche di Castiglione. So much character and Castiglione Falletto personality in abound. Wait for this to come back down. Drink 2022-2028. Barrel sample tasted January 2020

***** Roccheviberti Barolo DOCG Bricco Boschis 2016

A particulaly youthful and formidable nebbilloo from Bricco Boschis in Castiglione Falletto, no shrinking violet of a cru or in how it can confound the young and impressionable. There’s so much going on with respect to aromas; cured meat, fresh roses, rosewater, paved roads, fennel frond and spice. Then comes this brick of texture of inside like airy nougat. So real, so purposed, finessed and of the greatest intendment. How can you not see this but as a twenty year wine? Can’t you hear the organ croon out length, building to crescendo and classicism? Drink 2024-2036. Tasted January 2020

Ruggeri Corsini Barolo DOCG Bussia 2016

Here is a really taut, firm and yet forgiving Monforte d’Alba nebbiolo from Bussia. Unmistakeable as Barolo with its masculine missive, its unrelenting structure and how it just says wait. Emphatically so. Big bones and long aging probability for sure. Drink 2022-2030. Tasted January 2020

San Biagio Barolo DOCG Capalot 2016 ($59.95)

Quite high-toned and really tannic La Morra nebbiolo. Very little Capalot fruit joy early and perhaps may not really come. Can’t imagine the fleshing or the integration. Drink 2022-2026. Tasted January 2020

Sansilvestro Barolo DOCG Patres 2016

Lean and closed, very youthful, not giving very much away. Chewy fruit, ripe acids and even riper tannin so when it emerges from the shell there will be a big ropey nebbiolo to sink teeth deep into. Drink 2022-2027. Barrel sample tasted January 2020

Silvano Bolmida Barolo DOCG Bussia 2016

From the very large cru comes this high-toned nebbiolo with a certain sort of 2016 aromatic waft in tow. The citrus one bending towards the oxidative. Stays put and in touch with its plum fruit and tart acids. Drink soon. Drink 2020-2022. Tasted January 2020

Simone Scaletta Viticoltore Barolo DOCG Bricco San Pietro Chirlet 2016

Very cured and curative nose personality, like meats hung in the cellar of a wet concrete floor. Smells like winter, damp and draughty but it’s somehow comforting and encouraging. Tart, full on tang and really solid extension. Singular Monforte d’Alba Barolo from the nook of Bricco San Pietro Chirlet. Drink 2021-2027. Tasted January 2020

Sordo Giovanni Barolo DOCG Perno 2016

Now welcome to Perno. Perno of Monforte d’Alba specificity. Perno to tell a cru story, of sweet, sour and salty fruit, if it can be thus simplified. Tang in fruit, tart in acid and crafty in tannin. This is no breeze but it does keep blowin’ down the blow. Wild and ripping, energy like few other. What drive from a cru that knows how to live. Drink 2022-2028. Tasted January 2020

Sordo Giovanni Barolo DOCG Rocche Di Castiglione 2016

A touch of stable floor and a blue sky, late fall, fresh day’s ride along the trail. That and fresh red berry, plum and rose petal. So much aromatic Rocche di Castiglione beginning. Speaks to place (Castiglione Falletto) with palate feel and then a crunchy crusted finale. Yes this will morph into a fascinating wine in middle age. Drink 2022-2029. Tasted January 2020

Tenuta Cucco Barolo DOCG Del Commune Di Serralunga d’Alba 2016

Ripe and effusive, bright aromatics, quite floral and great potential ahead. Quite pure for nebbiolo with enough grip after extraction to send it further than many from Serralunga d’Alba down a crafty and well-designed road. Drink 2021-2027. Tasted January 2020

Tenuta Cucco Barolo DOCG Cerrati 2016

The Cerrati tones are set to the top right here and there’s no stepping down any time soon. A plum liqueur dominates with tannins so strong, so firm and admittedly, so fine. Big and chewy, the kind of Serralunga d’Alba Barolo that will really develop some dried fruit meeting cured meet, nuts and even a bit of funghi character. there’s surely enough finesse to see that happen. Drink 2022-2028. Tasted January 2020

Tenuta L’Llluminata Barolo DOCG Sant’Anna 2016

Fruity but in a juiced and reduced way, then swelled again with water. That sense is not so obvious but it describes the gains and losses of this La Morra Barolo’s swells. Texturally speaking it improves and impresses, as do the work of acids and tannin. Curious and potentially great. Drink 2022-2028. Tasted January 2020

Tenuta Montanello Barolo DOCG Montanello 2016

Very pretty Castiglione Falletto nebbiolo here from Montanello. Most overtly aromatic, never achromatic, seemingly pushy and tannic. Older of mind, body and soul. Old soul. There’s always a place in our hearts for such a Barolo. Drink 2022-2027. Tasted January 2020

Tenuta Rocca Barolo DOCG Bussia 2016

A deeper down the Monforte d’Alba well, twist of fate, somewhat dank though clearly serious nebbiolo of Bussia fame. So much tannin and yet charming. No questioning the personality and the effort. Drink 2021-2027. Tasted January 2020

Trediberri Barolo DOCG 2016

Cool and floral, red fruit in the candied to naturally sweet spectrum. Some tisane, savour and fine acidity. Tannins are easy and supportive. High ranking on the La Morra amenability factor. Drink 2021-2025. Tasted January 2020

Veglio Luigi E Massimo Barolo DOCG Raviole 2016

The Grinzane Cavour cru is indeed Raviole, the singular shape filled with red cherry fruit at the centre lightly volatile and edgy. Earth crusted and a potential for funghi or tartufi is definitely in the saucy or flaky future for this grainy farina nebbiolo. So curious and with so much possibility. Drink 2022-2028. Tasted January 2020

Vico Luigi Barolo DOC Del Commune Di Serralunga d’Alba 2016

A reductive one, one part woollen, one part peppery (like Cornas syrah) and one part volatile. really, really interesting and curious nose. Stays true to Serralunga d’Alba course both on the palate and in the way the retexture mimics, then creates. Such potential and possibility excites, as does the length. Drink 2022-2028. Tasted January 2020

Vico Luigi Barolo DOCG Prapò 2016

Really nothing else in this long flight of Barolo smells like this Serralunga d’Alba nebbiolo from Prapò. It’s a washed rind cheese meets berry clafouti with a yet undetermined set of bones and future. Confounding really and an absolute glaring example of Barolo in youth that resembles nothing of what it will one day become. Drink 2020-2022. Tasted January 2020

Viberti Giovanni Barolo DOCG Buon Padre 2016

Più Comuni brings vineyards together in strange advance with high toned character mixing with an ooze of liquorice and really developed red plummy fruit. Also some Brettanomyces then true tang from acidity. Big wine that climbs all over the map. Drink 2021-2026. Tasted January 2020

Vietti Barolo DOCG Lazzarito 2016 ($175.00)

Reductive and protected with little movement this early in its youth. Good core of red Serralunga d’Alba fruit albeit a bit gritty and then some bitters creeping in. If a bit hard-pressed and drying you simply must intuit the youth and what kind of eventuality it will transpose towards and to what end. Forget it Jake, it’s Lazzarito. Drink 2021-2023. Tasted January 2020

***** Vietti Barolo DOCG Ravera 2016

Here comes the seductive Ravera with everything beautiful up front at first scent. So liberally perfumed but a subtle fragrance, rose petal, jasmine, orange aerosol in thought only, of cherries and greenery. What follows nay not be as consequential but enough stuffing and grip to avoid any sort of Novello nebbiolo letdown. Still Ravera, still strong. Drink 2021-2028. Tasted January 2020

Virna Borgogno Barolo DOCG Sarmassa 2016

A lurker perhaps this Sarmassa, while the wood on this nebbiolo is very up front. The texture is all barrel derived (at this stage) and fruit seems a bit subdued. Cool factor for sure, lean (again, in the present) and not entirely allowing for the joys of ripeness or the representations in concentration to be set free. Dries out and peppers reductively in the end so please, don’t touch this for five years easy. Drink 2023-2028. Tasted January 2020

Voerzio Martini Barolo DOCG 2016

Sumptuous nebbiolo of red berry and orange tinged fruit, quite impressive concentration and a modicum of structure. Love the acidity here and the liquid chalkiness in a La Morra that strikes as being a rendition created through master blending. Quality wine of solid proportioning. Drink 2021-2026. Tasted January 2020

***** Voerzio Martini Barolo DOCG La Serra 2016

Thick in many ways, concentration for La Morra and also texture for so many layers upon the palate. This is La Serra and its ability, not to mention potential. This time around the pace is slower and the need for admiration is tempered by a better pace. Should drink beautifully in five-plus years. Drink 2022-2028. Tasted January 2020

Barolo Riserva DOCG 2014

Anselma Famiglia Barolo Riserva DOCG 2014

Buzzing nebbiolo of wild fruit and an almost co2 effervescence. Not quite but it sure makes you feel like the enzymes are still alive and working. Unusual to be sure. Drink 2020-2022. Barrel sample tasted January 2020

An aged Barolo here of big extraction, still raging tannin and more than a shake of Brettanomyces. A curiosity more than anything else. Drink 2020. Tasted January 2020.

Franco Conterno Barolo Riserva DOCG Bussia 2014

Good ropey red fruit is met by some Bretty character and mildly earthy beetroot. Quite the earthy Barolo with old-world, old-school charm. Acids and tannins are expected, directed, offer a sense of place (Bussia) and in the end are quite fine. Drink 2022-2028. Tasted January 2020

Giacosa Fratelli Barolo Riserva DOCG 2014

So unusually scented Barolo of evergreen and charred tomato, followed by a brittle and gritty textured palate. Some old-school winemaking and rigidity here. Drink 2021-2023. Tasted January 2020

Gigi Rosso Barolo Riserva DOCG Arione 2014

Thin and herbal, almost weedy nebbiolo. Advanced into oxidative beginnings, bricking and faintly scented tomato leaf. Not much pleasure left here. Drink 2020-2022. Tasted January 2020

Lo Zoccolaio Barolo Riserva DOCG Ravera 2014

Overripe and over-pressed so that all the hard tannin and astringent notes come through. Simple and tart. Drink 2021-2024. Tasted January 2020

The Marrone Sisters

Barolo DOCG 2006

Agricola Marrone Barolo DOCG Pichemej 2006

Marrone’s 13.5 year old Pichemej Barolo is heady stuff, unspeakably high-toned and equipped with fierce if drying tannins. No missive here and wholly in charge of your senses. Drink 2020-2023. Tasted January 2020

Alessandria F. Lli Barolo DOCG San Lorenzo 2006

Really quite youthful ’06 from Alesaandria in Verduno with a continuance of strong continence and firm grip still going and even growing. Really the strength is the calling card for all constituent parts through acidity and tannin are the clear winners. Drink soon though food matching is a necessity. Osso Busso and polenta. Drink 2020-2023. Tasted January 2020

Aurelio Settimo Rocche Barolo DOCG 2006

Settimo’s Rocche ’06 from La Morra is ostensibly full-on tertiary and if surprising it matters little because the porcini and tartufo are quite stunning. That said the ‘98s in my cellar better be consumed ASAP. Drink 2020-2021. Tasted January 2020

Boroli Barolo Cerequio DOCG 2006

Astringent and gritty. Overtly malic has made this nebbiolo brittle and hard to swallow. Drink 2020-2023. Tasted January 2020

***** Brezza Barolo DOCG Bricco Sarmassa 2006

High-toned with the kind of violet purple fruit that makes for a Brezza-Sarmassa-2006 trilogy. More like a triptych because the seamlessness between fruit, acid and tannic parts is quite fortuitous. Precipitous nebbiolo for dinner matching right now. Drink 2020-2022. Tasted January 2020

Cagliero Barolo Ravera DOCG 2006

Lots to delve into with this Ravera and it’s strength for Barolo by Cagliero. Full of energy, drive and bright-eyed salutations. Big wine with lots to give. Drink 2020-2024. Tasted January 2020

Casetta F.lli Barolo DOCG 2006

An aged Barolo here of big extraction, still raging tannin and more than a shake of Brettanomyces. A curiosity more than anything else. Drink 2020. Tasted January 2020

Cascina Del Monastero Barolo DOCG Riund 2006

Here a La Morra nebbiolo with all of its bones in tact and plenty of flesh hanging on the frame. The fruit persists albeit swathed in chocolatey barrel and the acids are sharp and pointed. Like most ‘06s the tannic structure is strong and supported by no holds barred extraction. This Riund example maintains balance within all these larger than life parameters. Drink 2020-2025. Tasted January 2020

Cascina Luisin Barolo DOCG Leon 2006

Certainly showing age at this stage the ooze is in and the melting of all parts are welling up the glass. Still the acids and the tannins take charge. When don’t they from 2006? Drink 2020-2022. Tasted January 2020

Codero Di Montesemolo Barolo DOCG Monfalletto 2006

Massive aromas, over the top in many ways, nearly suffocating. The palate on the other hand is quite beautiful, high energy and chic. The finish is woody and full of café. A tale of many worlds in this middle-aged nebbiolo, La Morra, Monfalletto, Barolo. Drink 2020-2022. Tasted January 2020

Conterno Fantino Barolo DOCG Sorì Ginestra 2006

Notable for the extraction happened 13-plus years ago with a forward notation that the fruit stands the test of pressing time. Really chalky and liquid stylish still so it really can handle the 2006 Monforte truth. Drink 2020-2023. Tasted January 2020

Gagliasso Mario Barolo DOCG Rocche Dell’Annunziata 2006

Age puts this ’06 from La Morra on the wane side of nebbiolo life though both acids and drying tannins remain fierce, grippy and in charge. This one packs some serious 13-14 year-old punch. Drink 2020-2022. Tasted January 2020

***** Ettore Germano Barolo DOCG Cerretta 2006

Something ulterior here from Ettore, mingling, alive, balanced and fine. For one of the first times the three main ideals are in synch, or nearly so. A bit heavy o the wood-induced character but everything knows and seems to fit into its right place. Drink 2020-2025. Tasted January 2020

Principiano Giuseppe Barolo DOCG 2006

Highly aromatic wine of a multitude of savoury elements. Spiced in many ways, east, west and everywhere in between. Sweet fruit persists but clearly submits to the wood, the acids and that masala of spice. Peppery and sharp, so interesting though not quite developed into present tense balance. Drink 2020-2023. Tasted January 2020

Mauro Veglio Barolo DOCG Gattera 2006

Wholly curious aromas emit preserved orange and baking spice from the Gattera in La Morra by Veglio Mauro. There’s almost no frame of reference here but for the heavy hit of acidity and tannin that take over. Tons of complexity and character. Drink 2020-2023. Tasted January 2020

Monchiero F. Lli Barolo DOCG 2006

Completely about face in aromas here from Castiglione Falletto, more evergreen and specifically pine. Very earthy and not forgiving to taste. Perhaps a minor note of TCA. Drink 2020-2023. Tasted January 2020

Simone Scaletta Viticoltore Barolo DOCG Bricco San Pietro Chirlet 2006

Quite heady and savoury Monforte nebbiolo with so much tannin from early extraction still safely secure in pocket. Quite woody but the dark Chirlet Bricco San Pietro fruit seems to handle the ever-going onslaught. Will do so for another year or two. Drink 2020-2022. Tasted January 2020

Tenuta Montanello Barolo DOCG Montanello 2006

Quite high-toned but also earthy with sweet flavours mainly from oak on the palate. Acids are the driving force and all in all the balance is quite good. From Castiglione Falletto. Drink 2020-2022. Tasted January 2020

Tenuta Rocca Barolo DOCG San Pietro 2006

Nice little red fruit Monforte nebbiolo that seems to have avoided the ’06 tendency to overdress, extract and stress. And so it is not heavy pressed and while it may miss out on the structure of some big and badass ‘06s at this stage it is nothing but pleasant and joyous San Pietro. Drink 2020-2022. Tasted January 2020

***** Virna Borgogno Barolo DOCG Preda Sarmassa 2006

Lovely are apparent Barolo from the section of the Sarmassa cru that brings the lovely. Elegant nebbiolo at 13.5 years old is just this. Red fruit, ripe acids, a touch of volatility and sweet chains of fine-grained tannin. Drink 2020-2023. Tasted January 2020

Barolo Riserva DOCG 2004

Anselma Barolo Riserva DOCG Adasi 2004

Stink bomb. Sweeter fruit on the palate but the aromatics in earthy merde steal the show. Drink 2020-2021. Tasted January 2020

Barale Flli Barolo Riserva DOCG Bussia 2004

Quite advanced to no surprise or complaint with fruit compliant in age notable extension. More tannin than acidity in this ’04 and in fact the vintage was not nearly as demanding as referenced by the formidable ‘06s in this tasting. This is a lovely retrospective look at 2004 Riserva. Drink 2020-2024. Tasted January 2020

***** Cavallotto Barolo Riserva DOCG San Giuseppe 2004

Nice drop at 15 years-old, red fruit intact, not having been asked to do too much. Quite tart and still so very tight but the winding is beginning to allow the winch to go the other way. The uncoiling means good drinking times over the next five years. Drink 2020-2024. Tasted January 2020

Germano Ettore Barolo Riserva DOCG Lazzarito 2004

Age is showing with great transparency because the volatility and earthy character is really up front. Woolly and swarthy with high level 2004 acids and drying fruit. Juicy enough but up there in the tonal spectrum. Drink 2020-2022. Tasted January 2020

Josetta Saffirio Barolo Riserva DOCG Persiera 2004

Just what the Barolo doctored ordered for 15 year-old Barolo with brightness matched by angst. A real posit tug is in effect between juiciness and structure. The force seems to be winning but the flesh is hanging on. Drink 2020-2023. Tasted January 2020

***** Parusso Barolo Riserva DOCG Bussia 2004

Aging to be sure but an exotica in aroma that is very special. A Bussia reality that delivers much fantasy 15 years on. Chewy and earthy with violets, roses, tar and fennel. Wild ride and happy to have hopped on. Drink 2020-2024. Tasted January 2020

Vite Colte Barolo Riserva DOCG Essenze 2004

Quite advanced, full of reduced liquor and still tannic at the finish. A bit astringent despite the redemption offered by coolness and florality. Drink 2020-2022. Tasted January 2020

Good to go!

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WineAlign

Barbaresco DOCG previews and retrospectives: 2017, Riserva 2015, 2007 and 2005

Jun15

Flying in to Pi-e-mon-te

Nebbiolo Prima is a wine tasting and immersive concern of impossible equal. The twenty-fourth edition took place in Alba during the latter stages of January 2020, the last innocent period of Piemonte’s recent history and the memories ingrained will last a lifetime. How retrospectively insignificant were the stressors incurred through tasting 300 wines blind over three days plus hundreds more with producers at lunches, dinners and visits? How happy, carefree and miles from non-plussed were the journalists, sommeliers and their Albeisa hosts during a week of connectivity and shared motivations? Less than one month later everything had changed.

Marina Marcarino introduces Nebbiolo Prima 2020

Tutto arriva al momento stabilito, “everything comes at its appointed time.” War, peace, pandemic, recovery. Piemonte has been particularly compromised by COVID-19 and it just seems so unfair but the Piedmontese back down from nothing and move ahead no matter the obstacles. The work ethic never tires, nor do fruit and tannin. There are a thousand wine producers who raised estates out of post-war, mezzadrie ashes to put Barbaresco, Roero and Barolo at the forefront of Italian wine. This generation will do the same beginning in 2020. Piemonte does just about everything well and for so many tangible reasons, everything right. The clash of cultures, detailed attention to seductive and gratifying food particularities and impossible to resist, covetable wines from Langhe and Roero origins add up to one of Italy’s finest destinations. Eating and drinking in Piemonte is one of life’s greatest treats and I’ve not yet even mentioned the word nebbiolo. Life and winemaking are all about the pauses, where art resides in the elusive calm between Barbaresco fruit and tannin.

It had been a most incredible Nebbiolo Prima 2020 week with gratitude and love to the guidance and effort of the the Albeisa organization’s President, Domaine Punset’s Marina Marcarino. Always the first to pioneer, lead, teach and share, Marcarino expressed the pride and the passion of the community of producers that worked tirelessly to create this formidable assembly. Albeisa’s goal is not singularly focused. This event is not simply a matter dedicated to the tasting of wine. Agricultural evolution and wine-producing innovation are a major focus, always with a socio-economic bearing kept in mind. Albeisa’s deans pointed out that there has been a steady decline of the de-classification of grapes and for Barbaresco that has meant a drop from 46 to 23 per cent of bottlers at harvest moving from Barbaresco DOCG and into Langhe Nebbiolo DOC.

Mauro Buonocore

Trusting Science

Most fascinating was a climate change talk titled I Cambiamenti Climatici NEI Media, given by Mauro Buonocore, head of the Communication and Media Office at CMCC Foundation – Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change. Buonocore began with a challenge to journalists, to report truths, based on science. “Why are journalists and the public interested in such complex scientific problems?’ he asks. This is Mauro’s question, his purpose for studying the subject. “Attention paid to climate change makes sense if we do so in relation to socio-economic systems.” He then wants to know “what is the cost for business in a world in which temperature is changing and extreme events like heavy rains and heat waves taking place?”

The study by Fondazione Centro Euro-Mediterraneo sui Cambiamenti Climatici presents as a focal point for Italy, to “get out of the green ghetto,” insists Buonocore. “Hugging trees is not the only answer.” The starting point is science because science is informative. “It’s a democratic community.” IDCC creates reports by 300 authors, in 20,000 studies, with 100,000 comments. It’s more than enough to satisfy the most skeptical journalist. It’s also a consistently framed initiative that resides at a global level.

Mauro Buonocore, CMCC

2020 Findings

The foundation’s most recent investigations are heavily reporting about extreme weather, a.k.a the new global warming. Climate action is now responsive and mobilizing to act in response to the natural disasters but also losses in biodiversity. Human made environmental tragedies are the single largest crises faced today and more than ever there is a need for collaboration between journalists and scientists. Un”alleanza necessaria, driving scientific research into journalists’ hands, to report on forests, environment and climate change. Wine journalists. The road goes both ways, recoproche risorese, not a one-man band. The intrigue of this study takes journalists and in turn the public away from the idea about what can be done to combat and make adjustments for climate change to a realm defined by placing trust in scientists and scientific thought. A blind trust perhaps but this is the request.

What to make of Barbaresco DOCG 2017

In subsequent articles I will get to what Barolo and Roero have reached in their recent contributions to nebbiolo but today we begin with Barbaresco. Nearly 60 examples of Barbaresco DOCG 2017 were presented, along with 15 Riserva 2015 and a further dozen or so retrospective 2007s. Communes of origin (Alba, Barbaresco, Neive and Treiso) were joined by Cru examples (Montersino, Rocche Massalupo, Asili, Ovello, Pora, Rabaja’, Rio Sordo, Roccalini, Roncaglie, Ronchi, Montaribaldi, Albesani, Basarin, Canova, Cotta’, Gaia-Principe, Gallina, San Cristoforo, San Guiliano, Bricco San Giuliano, Santo Stefano, Senadaive, Serraboella, Serragrilli, Sorì Paitin Serraboella, Starderi, Bricco di Treiso, Casot, Giacone, Marcarini, Meruzzano, Nervo, Nubiola, Pajore’, Rombone, Valeirano and Vallegrande).

Tasting at #nebbioloprima2020 with the Morris, side by each ~ Day one, 120 in

These odd, curious and at times inspiring 2017s are littered with examples that speak to great variability, lined with pockets of hot and bothered micro-climates but also cool spots in spite of the prevailing terms of the vintage. These Barbaresco are wines of patent freedom and some imbibers may think they want in but may not be equipped to handle the liberties they provide. Still others will unite over the untied and untucked nature of the lot. The highlights are nominally noted by nebbiolo quietude that act as breaths of fresh 2017 air. The Riserva of 2015 are at their best when the spice cupboard is wide open for nebbiolo to act aromatically gregarious, volatile and yet unsettled. The best of 2015 have yet to peek out of the open windows.

The task of tasting 360 nebbiolo blind or not in four days would be unthinkable without the guidance and assistance of a professional Sommelier. What is a Sommelier? A Sommelier is completely invisible, yet always in sight. A Sommelier remembers what wine tasters hate. A Sommelier anticipates the taster’s needs before the needs are needed. A Sommelier is, above all, discreet to a fault. In total here are 92 reviews for Barbaresco nebbiolo tasted in Alba, January 2020.

Barbaresco at Hotel I Castelli, Alba

Barbaresco DOCG 2017 (59 reviews)

***** (denotes the top wines of the vintage)

Ada Nada Barbaresco DOCG Valeirano 2017

Sweet and saline Treiso nebbiolo, light and bright, lemon to orange. Quit and confident, the silent type that allows its actions to speak louder than its words. Good tang in its textural step and fine tannins will lead to mid-term aging exceptionality. Drink 2021-2025. Tasted January 2020

Adriano Marco E Vittorio DOCG Barbaresco 2017

Plays hard to get from the outset though there’s a prettiness to the lightness of this nebbiolo’s being. Can be tough when it needs to be and so there is potential here. Will need to wait and see just what becomes of this light, underestimated and yet understood Barbaresco. Drink 2023-2028. Tasted January 2020

Adriano Marco & Vittorio Barbaresco DOCG Basarin 2017 ($45.00)

Candied exterior in that the fruit scents are like flowers dipped into a sweetly perfumed liquid that permeates and infiltrated so that everything comes up roses. The palate then dries out a bit so that fruit succumbs to the tannins in the wine. Neive traditional and so plausible. Drink 2022-2028. Tasted January 2020

Albino Rocca Barbaresco DOCG Montersino 2017

Tannic and intense. Decent fruit more or less speaks to varietal obviousness and basic understanding. There’s a comfort level in the rustic charm of the tradition found inherent and fomenting in this Montersino nebbiolo. Drink 2022-2026. Tasted January 2020

Albino Rocca Ronchi Barbaresco DOCG 2017 ($75.75)

Once again a menthol note permeates but here from Ronchi in Barbaresco it is met with notable citrus, namely pomegranate, deep blood orange and also a real cherry-ness. Also very spiced, cinnamon and nutmeg, plus a variegation that comes across as much textural as it had aromatic. A serious wine of great integration and potential more than anything as a quotient of its fineness and deep-rooted complexity. Drink 2024-2037. Tasted January 2020

Alessandro Rivetto Barbaresco DOCG Montersino 2017

Ripe and syrupy nebbiolo, simpler than many or even most with fine-grained though negligible tannin. A bit of disconnect between the fruit and the finish, namely because the acidity is not a catalyst or a matchmaker in the Montersino equation. Drink 2021-2023. Barrel Sample tasted January 2020

Antica Casa Vinicola Scarpa Barbaresco Tettineive DOCG 2017

No cru designate mention (but referred to as Tettineive, “at the head of,” or above the village) and the Neive ubiquity is noted in the swarthy and swarming aromas that speak foremost about ripe fruit. It’s so very raspberry and not so very tannic though the acids are developed and encompassing. Not so complex but a great dinner date companion for the next few years. Drink 2021-2024. Barrel Sample tasted January 2020

Antichi Poderi Dei Gallina Barbaresco DOCG Gallina 2017

Quite bright and very citrus, light blood orange meeting green tannins. Seems like a very cool spot in spite of the ’17 Neive vintage. A tonic injection and a botanical feel make for a unique take on nebbiolo from Gallina. Drink 2021-2025. Tasted January 2020

Bera Barbaresco DOCG Serraboella 2017

Very cherry, very glycerin and also light on its aromatic feet. The scents are spiced and varietally obvious as Neive nebbiolo with a sweetness that speaks to the land. Good structure, even sweeter tannins and very apparent that the barrel is a major part of the game. Needs time and also tells us that if you like sweetness from wood then you should clearly stick around. Drink 2022-2027. Barrel Sample tasted January 2020

***** Belcolle Barbaresco DOCG Pajoré 2017

Now we are onto and into something other, ulterior, extraordinary even. The berry and cherry scents are ripe, effusive and frank. The subtleties speak to the knowledge and the knowing. There’s a restraint and a consummate professionalism in such a Treiso Barbaresco but also an accumulation spurred by precision. The real deal, needing no swagger to solicit no adulation. Drink 2023-2035. Tasted January 2020

Gran Bollito alla Piemontese, Ristorante Luna, Sinio

Briccogrilli Battaglio Barbaresco DOCG 2017

Slightly over-developed, heading towards oxidative and not far from raisin. Flat, little acidity and no real potential. Drink 2020-2021. Tasted January 2020

Ca’ Del Baio Barbaresco DOCG 2017

If ever a Barbaresco nebbiolo carried an uncanny aroma that is purely reminiscent of liquorice than this would be the one. Fruit quality is impressive and structure supports with a proper frame,. Nothing overtly complex here but overall the game is played quite well. Drink 2021-2024. Tasted January 2020

Ca’ Del Baio Barbaresco DOCG Vallegrande 2017

Sweet meets savoury for fruit that needs little introduction. So bloody nebbiolo, Barbaresco, Treiso and seemingly, clearly, obviously Vallegrande. Ripe and grippy tannins take control so maybe try and avoid needing to spend too much time here over the next five years. Drink 2022-2028. Tasted January 2020

***** Cascina Alberta Barbaresco DOCG Giacone 2017

A clear and concise look at Treiso nebbiolo from Barbaresco with tart currant, pomegranate and cherry fruit, tang in pocket and a lovely liquidity. This is the textural one of clarity and precision. Clearly textural, structured and fine. Not overtly tannic and so far from intrusive in terms of what the barrel wants to say. Drink this everyday and for no particular reason. Drink 2021-2029. Tasted January 2020

***** Cascina Luisin Barbaresco DOCG Asili 2017

You can tell straight off the top that this Barbaresco-Asili nebbiolo is not begging for attention, nor does it care if you get it or not. The fruit wades and treads easily, comfortable, without any real tension. The acids are delicate and fine, real and necessary. The tannins repeat the yoga mantra. This is a sneaky one, seemingly light and uninterested but time will see flesh, bone and serious intention come to the surface and swim with strength deep into the distance. Drink 2023-2031. Tasted January 2020

Cascina Luisin Barbaresco DOCG Rabajà 2017

A deep inhalant of hillside brush, red citrus and well-ripened fruit are the three-part harmony sung by this Barbaresco. Simplifies a bit once you realize the heavy bass played by the wood takes over and commands a sweetness but also a simplicity in the structural line. Still there is a quality that just aches with the singsong verse of Rabaja’. Drink 2021-2026. Tasted January 2020

Cascina Morassino Barbaresco DOCG 2017 ($58.62)

Lovely and complex nebbiolo aromatic profile with crisp bites and red fruit drawn off the right kind of soils for all to take part. One part kind fruit, one part energy building and one part lengthening structure. Adds up to quality Barbaresco and accessibility. Drink 2021-2026. Tasted January 2020

***** Cascina Morassino Barbaresco DOCG Ovello 2017

Impressive from go with high-toned, pectin-developed and transparent, glycerin fruit. Really fine lines, bones and structurally sound encroachment into the tough areas only such Barbaresco nebbioli can go. Serious Ovello wine with a long life ahead. Drink 2023-2032. Tasted January 2020

Cascina Sarìa Barbaresco DOCG Canova 2017

Quite ripe and developed Neive nebbiolo with an oxidative waft. Will go quickly into the pruned night with so much vanilla by wood in its fading light. Drink 2020-2021. Tasted January 2020

Castello Di Neive Santo Stefano Albesani Barbaresco DOCG 2017 ($51.75)

Fruit is sweet and properly ripened, a touch herbal and tannins take quick stage to cover and draw the curtains. Chewy in a liquorice way and drying though tradition runs like blood through the structure. Solid Neive Barbaresco. Drink 2021-2025. Tasted January 2020

Collina Serragrilli Barbaresco DOCG Serragrilli 2017 ($45.00)

Wildly earthy and aromatic Neive nebbiolo from Serragrilli, a touch overdrawn but still sitting on that ledge. Smells like a scorch of sorts and a light char on wild game. Also brings the hematic aromas that only fresh meat, toasty wood and blood orange can gift. Complex specimen here if just a touch ripe into the beyond. Drink 2021-2026. Tasted January 2020

***** Cortese Giuseppe Barbaresco DOCG Rabajà 2017

Sweet scented aromas and a chewy textural aspect make this Barbaresco nebbiolo one of the more impressively expressionistic examples. The substance in grain and disposition are clearly developed and designed to create a gregarious and exhibitionist example. So much Rabajà proposition, supposition and expectation await. Drink 2023-2032. Tasted January 2020

Figli Luigi Oddero Barbaresco DOCG Rombone 2017

Unusually scented Treiso Barbaresco, almost like baking biscuits mingling with cured meats. Quite chalky tannic and earth crusted too. Very nebbiolo, high strung and extended perhaps beyond means but there will be a sweet spot somewhere out there in the mid ages. Drink 2022-2026. Tasted January 2020

***** Figli Luigi Oddero Barbaresco DOCG Gallina 2017

Another about face for nebbiolo twists and turns within the variability and variegation found in the Neive Barbaresco from Gallina. Tartness, tang, tannin and even a moment’s tumult make this curious, foreboding and so very interesting. Watch to see where this one goes. Drink 2022-2028. Tasted January 2020

Grasso Fratelli Barbaresco DOCG Vallegrande 2017

Darker, bloodier and richer than some but also as compared to brethren within the cru. Vallegrande is quite expressive Treiso Barbaresco though this example is clearly driven by the barrel. Vanilla in droves, chocolate not too far behind and tannins thick as thieves. Drink 2021-2024. Tasted January 2020

Icardi Barbaresco DOCG Starderi 2017 ($78.00)

Intensely reductive and closed, even for Neive nebbiolo. There too is a pine resinous note and some charred meeting preserved citrus. Curious and yet to open up its charms. Drink 2022-2026. Barrel Sample tasted January 2020

Pasta heaven in Alba

Il Bricco Barbaresco DOCG Bricco Di Treiso 2017

The mix of cured meats, wood smoke, spice and wet concrete make for a Treiso nebbiolo with so much bloody character that keeps changing with every nose put into the glass. Brings blood orange and bresaola to the mix. What a potpourri, what a design and what a complication. That all said the tannins are not so firm and not so demanding, More wood and texture than anything else. Drink 2021-2026. Tasted January 2020

La Ganghija Di Enzo Rapalino Barbaresco DOCG 2017

A touch past ripe and syrupy though with complex aromatic notes, namely preserved citrus and gingered chocolate. A gastronomic Treiso Barbaresco in a dessert course kind of vein with notable cask sweetness, spice and strength. Very modern and ambitious. Drink 2022-2026. Barrel Sample tasted January 2020

La Ganghija Di Enzo Rapalino Barbaresco DOCG Giacosa 2017

A bit past the centre line for ’17 Treiso ripeness and evergreen amplitude. Also an earthy note, albeit a sweet one that mingles with fruit and tang. Lots of wood, texture and grip. Very chewy and will develop some fun funghi and umami secondary character. Drink 2022-2028. Barrel Sample tasted January 2020

Mainerdo F.Lli Barbaresco DOCG Roccalini 2017

Quite a mentholated sauce and scented nebbiolo, not unlike the Barbaresco of Pora though Roccalini also delivers a multitude of red fruit. It’s berry, plum and citrus all rolled into one. There too is a note that seems uncanny but you can’t quite put your aromatic sensors on it. Chalk it up to memory that will come back one day. Drink 2022-2029. Tasted January 2020

Manera Barbaresco DOCG 2017

Simple and basic nebbiolo with mild acidity and grippy tannin. Proper enough but just not that interesting. Drink 2021-2025. Barrel Sample tasted January 2020

Masseria Barbaresco DOCG Montersino 2017

Extremely high-toned Montersino nebbiolo with a decidedly vinyl shower curtain note. Also some fennel, mountain tea and sweet herbal aspect. Funny wine with a hard candied shell. Drink 2021-2024. Tasted January 2020

Massimo Rivetti Barbaresco DOCG 2017

Very herbal almost in a cough concoction sort of realm and certainly an alcoholic warmth mixed with some mephitic material. Smells like the stable. Not clean. Drink 2020. Tasted January 2020

Moccagatta Barbaresco DOCG 2017

Curious one this nebbiolo, at once a rich and ripe ’17 and on the other hand tight, taut and closed. Somewhat pine verdant and cool with a graphite note. Crunchy acids and plenty of texture make this one gregarious, full and ambitious. Tannins follow suit with grip and energy. Yes, the drive and the energy her are the thing. And the potential. Drink 2022-2028. Tasted January 2020

Molino Barbaresco DOCG 2017

Extreme ripeness and developed cherry fruit that ultimately means simple and straightforward juice. A bit meaty and chewy in a cheaper cut, a bit too quick braised way. Drink 2020-2022. Tasted January 2020

Montaribaldi Barbaresco DOCG Montaribaldi 2017

Quite simple, tart, woody and unreflective. Comes across as sweet and overtly intentional. Drink 2021-2024. Tasted January 2020

Musso Di Musso Barbaresco DOCG Rio Sordo 2017

Perfume is off the charts in a Barbaresco nebbiolo that clearly speaks for the land from whence it has come. Fruit quality is ripe, sweet and developed while acids are just as important as tannin for a cru Barbaresco of style and no real overt need to go decades for best pleasure. The results are now and for 10 years max. Drink 2021-2029. Tasted January 2020

***** Musso Di Musso Barbaresco Pora DOCG 2017

Wow the mentholated and graphite noted aromatics are off the charts in this singular Barbaresco. Also tobacco and a fine liquidity that runs through like one substance suspended within another. Should be interesting to see when the two will emulsify and get together as one. Drink 2023-2030. Tasted January 2020

Mustela Barbaresco DOCG 2017

Ostensibly what you’d imagine Treiso Barbaresco to nose without a cru mention and in a wholly modern way. Sweet spice, cured meat and vanilla. Big wine with lots of texture. Drink 2022-2027. Barrel Sample tasted January 2020

Nada Giuseppe Casot Barbaresco DOCG 2017 ($33.25)

Very right, credible and proper Treiso nebbiolo from Casot here with all the constituent parts in line, one following another and no gaps to speak of. There’s a salve texture that you already knew was coming because the aromas told you so. The texture carries forth with admirable consistency and the elasticity of this Barberesco is right there behind, in support and with en eye towards the eventual conclusion. Drink 2022-2029. Tasted January 2020

Ristorante La Libera, Alba

Negro Giuseppe Barbaresco DOCG Gallina 2017

Deeper and more developed for Neive-Gallina and surely from a warm and sunny exposition to take full advantage of the vintage. A bit lean on the other hand and also a touch verdant. This one will travels to all four corners of nebbiolo earth. Drink 2022-2027. Tasted January 2020

Orlando Abrigo Meruzzano Barbaresco DOCG 2017 ($42.95)

Earthy and reductive with the forest and the barn’s floor all over the Treiso aromatic room. Plenty of wood and where this excels is in its cool, silky and pleasurable texture. Needs time, of course it needs time. Success depends, well of course it depends. Drink 2022-2027. Tasted January 2020

Paitin Barbaresco DOCG Sorì Paitin Serraboella 2017

Almost negligible in so many ways in that it’s so very hard to get. That said the quietude is a breath of 2017 Neive air because no intrusions have been allowed to get through, neither red, green, overt or unwanted. A simply rendered nebbiolo can be your friend and here the structure is likely sneakier than first, second and third time around imagined. Charming wine from Serraboella. Drink 2022-2028. Tasted January 2020

Pasquale Pelissero Barbaresco DOCG 2017

Quite blood orange, hematic and even ferric nebbiolo form the odd, curious and at times inspiring Neive 2017s. Textural on the outside and linear and lean on the inside, even this example owes to its very own variability. Tannins are a bit grippy and energy comes back and forth, in and out of time and waves. Drink 2021-20327. Barrel Sample tasted January 2020

Pelissero Pasquale Barbaresco DOCG San Giuliano 2017

Developed in many ways, not the least of which is fruit in syrup and dried fruit character. Turns lean and uninteresting with a cool mint and graphite quality on the back end. Drink 2020-2022. Barrel Sample tasted January 2020

Pertinace Barbaresco DOCG Marcarini 2017

A traditionally accumulated, developed and rendered Treiso nebbiolo to be frank with generous big barrel character and silken ripe 2017 fruit. Big bones and full texture make for a mouthful and one that will take years to find its classic stride. Drink 2023-2030. Tasted January 2020

Pertinace Barbaresco DOCG Nervo 2017 ($59.95)

Nervo is south facing on famous Treiso blue clay. Just a lovely nose here, sweet scenting, floral and savour-candied. Just a touch of so many things; herbs, creosote, pine, cedar and scorched earth. Vanilla, chocolate and spice. Gone for it all. Drink 2022-2028. Tasted January 2020

Pietro Rinaldi San Cristoforo Barbaresco DOCG 2017

Light to developing in aromas and textures with variegations. Crunchy and chewy at the same time, with a taste profile that encompasses the liquorice, earth and wood spice profile. Lots going on here from San Cristoforo in Neive but in the present not overtly complex. Probably best to wait a year or two ands then drink young. Drink 2021-2025. Tasted January 2020

Poderi Colla Roncaglie Barbaresco 2017 ($50.00)

Wound tight, taut and far from ready to unravel there are layers upon layers of structure in this ’17 Roncaglie-Barbaresco. Crunchy and crusted you will have to exercise great patience before even thinking you can see the light or feel the gentle pull in the elasticity of this wine. Take it slow, take your time and let it flow. Drink 2024-2032. Tasted January 2020

Rattalino Massimo Barbaresco DOCG 2017

Pretty and effusive Barbaresco nebbiolo with notable tannic structure. Quite a mouthful of barrel-influenced spice and tannin. The length is impressive so there is no doubt that this will go far. Drink 2022-2028. Barrel Sample tasted January 2020

Rizzi Barbaresco DOCG Pajoré 2017 ($42.95)

Again this is Pajore’ in its basked light of delicacy, ripe and rising. Understated and yet so cumulative of fruit, acidity and fine tannin. In fact the tannins accumulate with great numbers and in even greater force. This will outlive many of us to die another day. Tour de force is what nebbiolo can be albeit with Treiso subtlety and drive. Drink 2023-2034. Tasted January 2020

Roberto Sarotto Barbaresco DOCG Gaia Principe 2017 ($43.00)

There’s an almost appassimento note to this strange and unusual Neive nebbiolo and also an over-developed fruit feel. Like roll-up, very strawberry and quite overripe. So simple as a result and mired in a pectin-glycerin way. Drink 2020–2021. Tasted January 2020

Socré Barbaresco DOCG 2017

Takes a walk along a wire that supports both a lightness of being as well as some high-tonality to the point of volatility. There is an old-school Barbaresco quality to be sure and a traditional waft that is both obvious and comforting. Clean enough to eat off of though you also knows where its been. Drink 2021-2027. Tasted January 2020

***** Sottimano Barbaresco DOCG Pajoré 2017 ($103.95)

One of only two Cru Neive Barbaresco made by the family in 2017 because of hail that rained down on Basarin the 25th of April. Lower production on one hand, indelible mark of concentration and focus on the other. Elegant, lightly lifted and breezy with that density of fruit laying low, stowed safely and securely away to rise only as necessary, as the tannins melt, spread out and dissipate. Accented with chromatic prejudice as only a Sottimano nebbiolo will, xanthous, cinnabar, maroon, together imagined as spices that feed the flavours. Liquid berries, cool, fine and finessed. Does Barbaresco get more honest than this? A true window into a cru and snapshot of a vintage. Drink 2021-2031. Tasted January 2020

Taverna Barbaresco DOCG 2017

Tenuta Baràc Barbaresco DOCG Rocche Massalupo 2017

Dark and developed nebbiolo fruit with some serious grip in its tannic step. The wood is a major factor early on and the stuffing is surely there. Needs a few years easy to let things settle and to allow full or even partial integration. Great potential from Rocche Massalupo. Drink 2024-2030. Tasted January 2020

***** Voghera Luigi Barbaresco DOCG Cottà 2017

Unusually restrained for a Neive nebbiolo of clear complexity and might. The substantial fruit texture and mineral-alloy impression cannot be ignored, nor can the exquisiteness of the elasticity be denied. So much acumen, passion and planning are clearly meant to make many requests, most notable the one that asks for patience before judgement and ultimately joy plus pleasure accumulated in the decades long exercise. Drink 2023-2035. Barrel Sample tasted January 2020

Barbaresco DOCG 2016 (2 reviews)

Sottimano Barbaresco DOCG Basarin 2016

Taverna Barbaresco DOCG 2016

Comes from one vineyard at the top part of the hill, Gaia Principe it’s called, one of four that make Barbaresco in the MGA (menzioni geografiche aggiuntive). Quick maceration, only seven days, not very Piedmontese and because the house tradition is to make wines to drink and drink now. A very fresh nebbiolo, sweetly perfumed, clear, pure and precise. Drink this most days. No good reason not to. Drink 2020-2024. Tasted February 2020

Marina Marcarino

Barbaresco Riserva DOCG 2015 (15 reviews)

Briccogrilli Battaglio Barbaresco Riserva DOCG Serragrilli 2015

All about aromatics for this Neive nebbiolo. Candied meets spiced, like a cinnamon lozenge, soothing and yet peppery. Not the most structured affair and thins out as the hard shell cracks, softens, melts and disappears. Drink 2020-2022. Tasted January 2020

Cantina Del Nebbiolo Barbaresco Riserva DOCG 2015

Set at the highest tone, nearly to 11, with fruit rising along and everything just hanging out on the edge. Drink 2020-2022. Barrel Sample tasted January 2020

***** Castello Di Verduno Barbaresco Riserva DOCG Rabajà 2015

A bit linear and herbal though there’s some substance hiding in the Barbaresco reeds. Quite closed and yet to open for the world to know and perhaps understand. Seems to shed some light with time in the glass before structure creeps in and up. Definitely wait and return. Better times lay ahead. The transparent and confident fruit will emerge. Drink 2023-2029. Tasted January 2020

Francone Barbaresco Riserva DOCG 2015

Now here is a Barbaresco Riserva for an overall consumer platform with ubiquity and pleasure across all fronts. Mildly fruity and with acids meeting tannins that mimic a concept of the same, Unquestionably Neive nebbiolo and without making any demands. Drink 2020-2024. Tasted January 2020

La Bioca Barbaresco Riserva DOCG Secondine 2015

Aromatically gregarious, volatile and yet unsettled in what is still an unfinished state. So much acidity and wood without respite. Can surely be imagined as the sort of Barbaresco nebbiolo that will suddenly transform and morph into something completely other, brilliant, ethereal even. Drink 2022-2028. Barrel Sample tasted January 2020

Marchesi Di Barolo Barbaresco Riserva DOCG Rio Sordo 2015

Here’s a taut, tightly wound and spice-filled aromatic nebbiolo with a soil’s firm intention in solicitation of a wine’s structural intuition. Serious Barbaresco here with bones and elastic flesh. Let it ride. Drink 2020-2026. Tasted January 2020

Tajarin, Osteria dei Sognatori, Alba

Massimo Rivetti Barbaresco Riserva DOCG Cerebella 2015

A cool and almost minty Neive nebbiolo that lies in the nether between transparent and glycerin. Far from reduced or reductive and yet not overly oxidative either, Very middle of the road. Drink 2020-2023. Tasted January 2020

Molino Barbaresco Riserva DOCG Ausario 2015

Not merely ripe but nearly over the top, the edge and the precipice towards a falling down the other side. Tries hard and ultimately fattens, flattens into soft tones and sits out of balance. Drink 2020-2021. Tasted January 2020

Nada Giuseppe Barbaresco Riserva DOCG Casot 2015

Clear and marked upscale notes give this Treiso nebbiolo a true blue Barbaresco feel that can only lead to sensation. Very cherry and great in its soul connection to the way the wine slides gracefully into its structural components. A bit over-heated on the back end with a plethora of wood spice and mild char but it finds its way back to the cool tempered wine it wants and needs to be. Drink 2021-2026. Tasted January 2020

Piazzo Comm. Armando Barbaresco Riserva DOCG Nervo 2015

A ripe Nervo nebbiolo from Treiso on the darker, nearly black cherry spectrum with a clear directive from pressing through extraction and into barrel. Flavours are cough candy and tonic. Really quite botanical in the end. Drink 2021-2025. Tasted January 2020

Prinsi Barbaresco Riserva DOCG Fausoni 2015

Closed in aromatic terms though a sweet-scented baking spices resides in mild fade where the middle meets the background. Cool and taut, not yet ready to play or offer pleasure. Will do so when time gets under its belt. Not an overtly generous 2015 Barbaresco from Neive but clearly a serious one. Drink 2023-2031. Tasted January 2020

Produttori Del Barbaresco Barbaresco Riserva DOCG Muncagota 2015

Quality through really earthy fruit that reflects a feeling of beetroot in a chalky tannic Barbaresco nebbiolo. Quite crusted, nearly crusty and some bitters mark the finish. Dry and tannic. Young but the fruit will need to work hard in order to stand the test and onslaught of time. Drink 2021-2026. Tasted January 2020

***** Punset Barbaresco Basarin Riserva DOCG 2015 ($66.95)

Wildly aromatic of wild strawberry and sweet bitters liqueur. Highly glycerin and textural with grippy and elastic stretched tannins. A huge Neive Barbaresco with time definitely secure on its side. Drink 2022-2030. Tasted January 2020

Punset Barbaresco Riserva DOCG San Cristoforo 2015

This nebbiolo in the Barbaresco Riserva category goes for broke, pressed to find the fulsome glycerin that is entirely vintage possible. Extracted in tow are volatile and woolly characters with the present tense ability to infiltrate and distract. Time will act as catalyst to link the moving parts and give Neive life to what is at current a dry and tannic finish. Drink 2022-2027. Tasted January 2020

***** Tenute Cisa Asinari Dei Marchesi Di Gresy Barbaresco Riserva DOCG Camp Gros Martinenga 2015

The sense of place is clearly in with a jig of fruit that whispers Martinenga in Barbaresco. Wears a fine-knitted woolly cap and wraps up red fruit in a fine tannic sweater. Well-delineated from a generous vintage with the sort of bone structure and taut flesh that will withstand and bask in comfort through many cold winters. Drink 2022-2030. Tasted January 2020

Masseria’s Alessandro Giordano and Gurvinder Bhatia

Retrospective Barbaresco DOCG 2007 ++ (15 reviews)

Masseria Barbaresco DOCG Montersino 2015

From the brothers Giordano, Stefano and Alessandro in San Rocco frazione and only 8,000 bottles produced. Spent 12-18 months in (30 per cent new) barriques and grandi botti. Almost oily rich, certainly luxurious with the blood orange notation. Nicely balanced, thoughtfully pressed and a joy to drink. Proper tannins speak for the site which makes this nebbiolo a representative of place and the youthful presence of its then 10 year-old vines. Drink 2020-2024. Tasted January 2020

Pertinace Barbaresco DOCG Nervo 2009

Vigneto Nervo is south facing on blue clay in Treiso and here 11 years on this is no longer tense and nervous as it surely once was. Still nervy to be sure and from a big vintage. Generous red fruit with more than many shakes of spice and an almost dried balsamic wooden note. Wholly unique aromatic profile. Must be the compact blue clay we’re smelling. The silky palate texture tells us we’re right in the window. Last tasted at Ristorante Luna in Sinio, January 2020

A tight, saliva-sucking, bone dry, ossified, ferric Nebbiolo. Just two sips and my tongue and gums feel like a lorry has run over them. That and the crimson smell of climbing roses. Classic really. Tasted September 2013

Adriano Marco E Vittorio Barbaresco DOCG Sanadaive 2007 ($26.45)

At 13 this Sendaive nebbiolo out of Alba has put in the work and the time, now quiet and rested. Must have been a raging one in its day because the residual volatility is present albeit rendered and flaccid now. Now all chocolate and vanilla so in other words, wood. Drink 2020. Tasted January 2020

Cascina Luisin Barbaresco DOCG Rabajà 2007

Quite advanced Rabajà having taken all the steps necessary to travel through the portal into tertiary character. The secondary Barbaresco stage is but a faint glimmer in the rear-view mirror. It’s all milk chocolate wafers and milk now. The late bites are wood spice, not acidity. Drink 2020. Tasted January 2020

Castello Di Neive Santo Stefano Albesani Barbaresco DOCG 2007 ($44.95)

The fruit has vacated the Neive premises leaving wood, alcohol and mineral smells to keep the nebbiolo faith alive. Was and persists as an earthy soul with old-school and big barrel ideals in all its former glory. Drink 2020-2021. Tasted January 2020

Cortese Giuseppe Barbaresco DOCG Rabajà 2007 ($46.95)

Advanced and chocolate-filled, red fruit still juicy and thriving, acidity too. Tannins mostly resolved but still holding the fort. Solid Rabajà 2007 from Barbaresco to be sure. Drink 2020-2023. Tasted January 2020

Paitin Barbaresco DOCG Sorì Paitin Serraboella 2007

Amazingly characterful Neive-Sorì Paitin Serraboella nebbiolo, with a pronounced note of Brettanomyces mixing with the dried fruit and mineral salts. Would peg it for older than 2007 aromatically speaking but palate wise it still crackles and pulses with life. Drink 2020-2022. Tasted January 2020

Pelissero Pasquale Barbaresco DOCG Bricco San Giuliano 2007

Quite the quiet, soft and sultry nebbiolo with fruit very much intact. This is a warm 2007 that did not get under the covers and saw a Bricco San Giuliano stay away from overheating. Plenty of chocolate here and lots of life left to live and give. The Neive Pelissero heyday incarnate for Barbaresco and 2007. Drink 2020-2024. Tasted January 2020

Pelissero Barbaresco DOCG Nubiola 2007 ($45.95)

Nubiola out of Treiso is showing some age here with acids still raging and a candied sweetness to the aromas. Not nearly as expressive on the palate but when you think about the vintage and the age it still shines with as much happiness as you’d hope it would. Drink 2020-2022. Tasted January 2020

Poderi Colla Roncaglie Barbaresco DOCG 2007 ($50.00)

Colla’s 2007 Roncaglie saw a great compliment of wood, that much can be true in a 12.5 year later assessment. The fruit and the thrill are gone with the barrel and the cool savour stringing it out. Quite easy, amenable and one of the better food Barbaresco nebbiolo in this 2007 retrospective. So it’s got that going for it, which is nice. Drink 2020-2021. Tasted January 2020

Produttori Dei Barbaresco Barbaresco DOCG 2007 ($41.95)

A wee hint of mephitic reduction is maintained in this earthy, salt of the land nebbiolo from the great Barbaresco cooperative. Still showing its tannic teeth and elevating fruit up along with the high-toned character. The finish is like a Piedmontese chocolate and hazelnut torte. Drink 2020-2023. Tasted January 2020

Punset Barbaresco DOCG 2007 ($55.95)

Wildly aromatic, in a terrific window to check out the progress and clearly a top cru for nebbioplo from Neive in 2007. Which tells us Basarin is always a top cru. All have come to play and join the serious fun; fruit, nuts, wild shrubs and herbs, but also things toasted, charred, roasted and seared. All the while keeping a coolness and a winter savoury character to match the natural and honest personality it just feels so comfortable in display. Drink 2020-2027. Tasted January 2020

Rizzi Barbaresco DOCG Pajoré 2007

Pajoré from Rizzi is youthful to bely the 12 and a half years it has spent in its vessels. The notes of cherry are joined by a pinot noir like cola in Treiso nebbiolo clothing. Acids are still string and in charge while tannins are the ones to have softened. Spectacular look back in retrospection that I would wish upon everyone to have and enjoy. Drink 2020-2026. Tasted January 2020

Socrè Barbaresco DOCG Roncaglie 2007 ($50.00)

Pretty much what you might and want to expect from 2007 Barbaresco tasted in 2020. High-toned, fruit a mix of fresh and dry, acids in total control. Impressive Roncaglie that leaves a lasting impression. Drink 2020-2024. Tasted January 2020

Punset Barbaresco DOCG Campo Quadro Riserva 2005 ($71.95)

Highly complex Neive Barbaresco from Marina Marcarino’s Campo Quadro with age fully engaged but also on its side. The tones, bones and fleshy substance all show off their balance and their agility. Wise? Sure. Fortuitous? Maybe. Proper? Exactly. Drink 2020-2026. Tasted January 2020

Tenute Cisa Asinari Barbaresco Riserva DOCG Camp Gros 2005 ($104.00)

A bit of a demurred Barbaresco here from Camp Gros and yet the fruit has surely lasted without too much stress or effort. Crunchy and a touch earthy, quite floral and really elegant. Lovely at 14 years-old. Drink 2020-2024. Tasted January 2020

Good to go!

godello

Flying in to Pi-e-mon-te

Twitter: @mgodello

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WineAlign

Réva the hand as if by magic

May7

Réva’s is a remarkable Monforte d’Alba property nestled within an ideally situated Langhe amphitheatre, “at the limit of Barolo,” abutting the ridge that separates the potentate appellation’s southern border from Dogliani. Vines of dolcetto, barbera and nebbiolo rest, roost and rule the south-facing hill and a nine-hole links style golf course lays out east to west through the valley. Wooded havens hide deer and wild boar, birds of many ilk fill the naked skies, playgrounds long for children’s playful squeals while Restaurant FRE and its first Michelin Star in 2020 await the return of guests. A Piedmontese farm holiday stay such as this is quietude incarnate, unique, secluded and serene. Wines were made here at one time but growth and ambition make requiem for expansion. A new facility takes shape. Moving north again, at the foot of and below the village of La Morra we come to the cellar in Gallinotto where the wines are now in production. From agriturismo to cantina, Réva the hand as if by magic.

Nebbiolo and Dolcetto at Réva

Réva is a fascinating study of collaboration between five erudite men: Miroslav, Gianluca, Gabriele, Francesco and Daniele. Miro Lekes, owner, native of the Czech Republic and who’s first commercial vintage was 2012. Gianluca Colombo, oenologist, joined in 2010 after working 10 years for the Cordero consultancy in and out of 10-20 estates. Daniele Gaia worked at Elvio Cogno for seven years, leaving in 2016 to join the Réva experience. “If you want to be a protagonist in this world you need to find some space,” insists Gaia and so when he met with Miro and saw the vision for a 10+ year plan he knew his space had been found. Gabriele Adriano is winemaker, Tecnico Presso, formerly with Vajra in Vergne, just up the hill from Barolo. Gabriele joined just ahead of the 2017 harvest. “He’s very precise,” notes Daniele, “Gianluca is the creative one.” Francesco Spadaro joined in September 2018, coming from Viberti and at Réva deals with private customers and orders. “He is the commercial guy.”

We’re on the road to Réva

Farming practices are organic and not just for the vineyards, but also including the golf course and the wine relais grounds. “You don’t drink the certification,” quips Daniele, “you drink the wine.” Growth is quick and to the point because “there are five men working on the same wine. That’s the secret.” Total production at Réva is 65,000 bottles, the current maximum goal. Up to and at times above 10,000 each of dolcetto, nebbiolo, barbera, whites and the classico Barolo are the workhorses for 85-90 per cent of production. The cru Baroli from Ravera, Cannubi and Lazzarito make up the remainder.

Daniele Gaia, on the phone, making deals

“For sure Réva is a unique place in the Barolo area” tells Daniele. I spent a glorious January day with hime at the two properties near Monforte d’Alba. You need to begin tasting the ’16s, ’17s and ’18s because the ’19s in barrel will blow the roof off of the Langhe. Our third stop was for lunch in Alba at ventuno.1 under the culinary auspices of Chefs Alfonso Russo and Francesco Ferrara.

Godello, Chef Francesco Ferrara and Daniele Gaia at ventuno.1 , Alba

Know this. Réva’s are modern, 21st century wines with tremendous new Piemonte drinker’s appeal. They are also seductive to informed and discerning sommeliers because of an innate connection to the past. The notions that arise and astonish us are not because they are new, but because they are the sort that have been so long neglected and overlooked. The nebbiolo in particular are rooted in time tested pragmatism, decades, if not centuries old. They will stand the test, of longevity and time. These are the six wines we tasted.

Réva Nebbiolo d’Alba DOC 2018, Piedmont, Italy ($34.04)

Taken from San Sebastiano area, vines 15-20 years old in Monforte d’Alba. “We have a special view of the nebbiolo,” tells Daniele Gaia. “In our point of view it has to show the character of the grape, flowers, drinkability and approachable, not a baby Barolo.” And so Réva attacks with a gentle touch, a short and cold maceration to secure nebbiolo kept in a “light” vein, with evident acidity. Carries the youthful “splendore” of beautiful red fruit. A precociousness unhindered, on hinges, in ultra comfortable balance. Drink 2020-2024. Tasted January 2020

Réva Barolo DOCG 2016, Piedmont, Italy ($66.15)

Nebbiolo d’Alba DOC

Nebbiolo Langhe DOC

Barolo DOCG

Barbaresco DOCG

Barbera d’Alba DOCG

Verduno Pelaverga DOC

Vino Rosso

Método Classico Vino Spumante Di Qualita

Langhe Rosato DOC

Langhe Nascetta Del Comune Di Novello DOC

Langhe Favorita DOC

Roero Arneis DOC

Birbét

La Bottiglia Albeisa

What’s going on, under the ground?

The language of Roero

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Roero DOCG 2017

Roero Riserva DOCG 2016

Roero DOCG 2007 and Riserva DOCG 2006

Preview of Barolo DOCG 2016

Menzione Geographica

By the numbers

Barolo Riserva DOCG 2014

Barolo DOCG 2006

Barolo Riserva DOCG 2004

Trusting Science

2020 Findings

What to make of Barbaresco DOCG 2017

Barbaresco DOCG 2017 (59 reviews)

Barbaresco DOCG 2016 (2 reviews)

Barbaresco Riserva DOCG 2015 (15 reviews)

Retrospective Barbaresco DOCG 2007 ++ (15 reviews)