The Barolo / Barbaresco / Nebbiolo thread

[Willard]

All three of those Langhe nebbiolos sound good Jamie. I’m going to try to get a little stash of ‘16s.

[JamieBahrain]

It's a good idea Willard. I think the improvement in Langhe nebbiolo, coupled with superb vintage conditions, is delivering some amazing wines that will offer a teasing and often better insight into the nebbiolo experience; more so than some overworked Barolo and Barbaresco!

Last night I broke my own rules, tried a wine straight off the boat from Europe. Cascina delle Rose Rio Sordo Barbaresco 2008. Lovely aromatics, silky but more muscular than PdB's Rio Sordo which is from lower down the slopes, but the disturbed grittiness of travel on the palate prevented serious assessment.

[Ian S]

Yes, a decade or more ago I used to dismiss langhe nebbiolo as typically overpriced and rustic offcuts. These days it seems a much larger number are effectively scaled down versions of the grand wines

[JamieBahrain]

The new problem is, many have become so good, so quickly, they've moved beyond the drink soon proposition and without associated empirical experience. Even the producers aren't exactly sure of best windows. I've some cracking Marchesi di Gresy nebbiolo from 2010 and its just hitting its straps now. What of the shut down phase of nebbiolo? No oak or just some ? Many mysteries though the nice thing is its still cheaper than most of the entry level swill from Burgundy. It's not expensive to play around with all the diverse styles yourself.

One caveat though, there's still rubbish Langhe nebbiolo about. It probably wouldn't make it to Australia as the effort and cost high and the just of rubbishing the more expensive offerings of a winery in our market which seems to start at $100 AUD and above for B&B.

[JamieBahrain]

Interesting proposition. Modernist versus Traditionlist in every sense, two magnums of each, from the stern 2006 vintage, in a shoot-out. No notes of much detail. It was amazing how comfortably these wines stood together!

2006 Bartolo Mascarello Barolo DOCG en magnum- Consistent over the two magnums. Beautifully perfumed, minted-molten red and black fruits and in classic form, delivers a harmony in a medium frame, aromatics and flavour profile synchronize a long, astute finish. This is Mascarello at its finest. Don't expect emotion and tears, as with a Giacosa or Conterno single vineyard expression, but more a tradition of simple lineage of a most noble grape grown in great vineyard sites.

96pts+

2006 Domenico Clerico Ciabot Mentin Ginestra Barolo en magnum- Notably darker, complex blue and violet florals, tar, cocoa, minerals and refreshing breezy menthol. Fills out beautifully, raspberries in dark cocoa fruit, dried fruits and peppered nuanced. Long and sequenced finish, fruit and oak tannins melding well.

93pts+

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A couple of favourite Italian whites in magnum format- 2003 Josko Gravner Ribolla and 2009 Tenuta Selvadolce Pigato "Rucantu" Cuvee Valentino. Rarer than Mascarello. Delightful!

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[JamieBahrain]

Another delightful 2016 Piero Busso Nebbiolo over three days . Amazing value from 25+ year old vines around Neive. These guys take their Langh Nebbiolo seriously and I highly recommend !

[JamieBahrain]

Rocche Dei Barbari "Alivio" Barbaresco Riserva 2010- So the new visitors to Barbaresco drift up the one way road to the Tower and make the pilgrimage to the Produttori. Hoping to taste the riservas, if they are lucky, only the new release normale may be available to try!

Keep going ! Just next door is Le Rocche Dei Barbari. You can try riservas back 10 years, preserved in a coravin like tasting dispenser. The fruit is from the Barbaresco town nearby and you can not buy these wines anywhere other than CD.

Piercing, high toned citrus aromatics with fresh red rose and mentholated wild berries . Sweetly extracted, ripe nebbiolo amalgam with shades of violet jubes, prior drifting toward a persistence of lightly peppered berry-cassis flavours. All encased in mouth watering acidity and ready-now tannins.

93pts




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[JamieBahrain]

G.D. Vajra Barolo Albe 2013- Vajra isn't under the radar anymore though its not yet overpriced either. Their careful yet traditional style is well suited to the delicacy and perfumes of the soils of the Central Valley.

Immediately open with red florals, rich and ripe raspberries and a crushed rock like minerality. Emerging notes are lightly mentholated aniseed and Burgundian like undergrowth. The flavours track similar to the aromatics, marched to the finish in a smooth texture and a long and elegantly firm structure of tingling ripe tannins in fresh acidity.

Fleshes out overnight and simplifies- though by bottle's end its complete and showing a solid bet to be best at mid-term cellaring.

92pts+





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[JamieBahrain]

I feel really bad here on auswine. Would anyone care to join me drinking great nebbiolo?

[winetastic]

I feel really bad here on auswine. Would anyone care to join me drinking great nebbiolo?

I have been drinking it, just been rather slack in writing anything up

[JamieBahrain]

Yeah I know its time consuming. Only wines I write up these days are on here because its where my passion is. Tonight we are doing a B Mascaello vertical starting from 1958. I'll scribble some TV's

[Gavin Trott]

I feel really bad here on auswine. Would anyone care to join me drinking great nebbiolo?

I have been drinking it, just been rather slack in writing anything up

I've been buying and cellaring a lot of it, but none even close to being ready to drink. Only started really with the 2010 vintage, and quite intensely with and after 2012 ... so lots a sleepin' and resting.

But, Jamie, fly me over to Honkers, and I'll happily join you in drinking great Nebbiolo!!
.

[phillisc]

I feel really bad here on auswine. Would anyone care to join me drinking great nebbiolo?

I have been drinking it, just been rather slack in writing anything up

I've been buying and cellaring a lot of it, but none even close to being ready to drink. Only started really with the 2010 vintage, and quite intensely with and after 2012 ... so lots a sleepin' and resting.

But, Jamie, fly me over to Honkers, and I'll happily join you in drinking great Nebbiolo!!
.

+1, a good place to start...maybe i could be taught a thing or two
Cheers
Craig

[Ozzie W]

I feel really bad here on auswine. Would anyone care to join me drinking great nebbiolo?

I have been drinking it, just been rather slack in writing anything up

I've been buying and cellaring a lot of it, but none even close to being ready to drink. Only started really with the 2010 vintage, and quite intensely with and after 2012 ... so lots a sleepin' and resting.

Same here. Lots of Neb in my cellar, which now accounts for around 20% of my collection. Will have lots ready to drink in around a decade.

[Ozzie W]

2005 Poderi Aldo Conterno Barolo Romirasco

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Cork in pristine condition. Double decanted for around an hour and poured back into the original washed bottle. Consumed around 4 hours later. I had expectations of an approachable Barolo leaning towards a traditionalist style. What I got was a big oaky nonsense which I didn't enjoy drinking.

[JamieBahrain]

HKWS Bartolo Mascarello 1958-2010

This was a bit of an eclectic tasting. Old Mascarello is getting scarce and expensive. We had the 2010 G Mascarello Monprivato versus the B Mascarello as a cameo- though I reckon it wasteful as 2010 is shutting down. We also a few other Macarellos for fun. Blind tatsing.


Bartolo Mascarello Barolo 1968- A little tertiary rust before a prevailing perfume cherry and dark tea with asian spice and hay. Sublime on the palate and classic BM in its elegance, grace and length. Faded cherry, old spices and leather prior a long finish with pleasant blood and rust.

96pts

Bartolo Mascarello Barolo 2010-Hmmm this wasn't my event but a crazy place to put the 2010. One advantage was the juxtaposition of the perfumes of the 68 versus the 2010 showing the consistency.

Bewilderingly complex and deep aromatics. Rosemary, cherry, minerals and echoes of tar with a prevailing undertone of the BM perfume is a gentle licorice like buzz. Front palate delivers a quick look at the fruit complexity- not unlike the later aromatics -prior a drive of austerity and grace and long rise of beautifully ripened tannins. It's shut down now leave for 10 + and will outlive most of us.

95pts+


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Bartolo Mascarello Barolo 1973- The Central Valley ( La Morra and Barolo proper ) deliver a Burgundian like expereince with age. Faded perfumes, blood and iron in undergrowth with fresher aged cherry fruit notes. Savoury and completely resolved, it shows BM in a skeleton like format where the elegance is exaggerated by the long carry of acidity.

92pts

Giacomo Mascarello Barolo 1970- BBQ meats, candied nd faded red fruits with menthol, almond and leather. Sweet red fruits gently extracted on the palate, even and complete. Excellent for 30 minutes prior significant decay!

94pts

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Giuseppe Mascarello Monprivato 2010- Cherry pie, pear and geranium. Serious and reticent in scent. Red and black fruited amalgam tar and licorice, hazelnuts and a long piercing but elegant finish.Classic Monprivato. I have a case or two as well as magnums of Monprivato going back decades. I was asked to do a tasting with another friend and HKWS member who has double magnums of the 1978. I don't want to share them frankly.

97pts+


Bartolo Mascarello Barolo 2007- The BM perfume prior a lump of ripe plum and black cherry which darkens in a mesh with time. Citrus and minerals freshen the wine. All encompassing Barolo, ripe and dark, cola like, pine and mint freshen prior rounding off with some tannin grit.

When you drink old Barolo it's kind of interesting. You can see the hot vintages and the cool vintages 30 to 40 years on and the behaviour of acidity. Critics can write off vintages like this though time will disprove them.

93pts+




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Bartolo Mascarello Barolo 1967- Cooked meats, blood iron, very tertiary though freshens. Glides across the palate in ultra-fine style. There's a freshness in the fruit emerging in sweet notes. Gets better.

92pts

Bartolo Mascarello Barolo 1996- Choc-coated prunes with grapefruit freshening. Very powerful and unyielding with Plain-Jane dark fruits yet to express the vintage. Tannins on a firm rise needing more time. Great wine but could be better in 10 +

92pts+

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Bartolo Mascarello Barolo Riserva Cannubi 1958- Pretty and dusty, undergroth with sweet boiled red lollies. Very elegant though faintly scalped. Sad!

90pts

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Bartolo Mascarello Barolo 1964- CORKED

Michle Mascarello & Figli Barolo 1981- Great bottle! Tar, malt, smoked meats in a powerful aromatic display. Dark cacao fruit, a little unevolved though rich and comfortable. Long and fine.

94pts+

Bartolo Mascarello Barolo 1969- Odd wine from a terrible vintage. Bandaid to chinato which was oddly alluring with higher toned perfumed red fruits and fine rust. Elegant and complete with sweetening red fruits.

94pts

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Dinner wines below. MT's Freisa is a lunchtime proposition! We had some old Antinori whites and the 2007 in a bottomless glass showed a little heat.

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[Ian S]

Hi Jamie
What's your view on the Freisa? It's a grape I want to explore a little more, including the wines from Chieri where it's their regional calling card.

By chance, we did open a Barolo tonight, a long way from the lineage of that tasting you attendedd, but one I might just top up on if a good local merchant still has some:

• 2006 Tenuta Serradenari Barolo - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo (14/09/2018)
  This really has opened out nicely with a wonderfully complex and fragrant nose taking in menthol cherry, parma violets, a hint of farmyard, and low-key black olive. A really interesting broad corss-section.
  
  Equally enticing palate, albeit with still noticeably grippy tannins supported by enough acidity to accentuate the drying nature.
  
  Great with food now, but it will be interesting to see if the tannins drop away in time. If they do, proper maturity could be very interesting indeed.
  [img]https://cdn.ct-static.com/labels/638560.jpg[/img]

[FredericoWines]

Hi Jamie
What's your view on the Freisa? It's a grape I want to explore a little more, including the wines from Chieri where it's their regional calling card.

By chance, we did open a Barolo tonight, a long way from the lineage of that tasting you attendedd, but one I might just top up on if a good local merchant still has some:

• 2006 Tenuta Serradenari Barolo - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo (14/09/2018)
  This really has opened out nicely with a wonderfully complex and fragrant nose taking in menthol cherry, parma violets, a hint of farmyard, and low-key black olive. A really interesting broad corss-section.
  
  Equally enticing palate, albeit with still noticeably grippy tannins supported by enough acidity to accentuate the drying nature.
  
  Great with food now, but it will be interesting to see if the tannins drop away in time. If they do, proper maturity could be very interesting indeed.
  [img]https://cdn.ct-static.com/labels/638560.jpg[/img]

What's the difference between your bottle and Barolo La Vetta?

[Ian S]

Hi Frederico
I believe the La Vetta bottling is a selection from the higher elevations within Serradenari Cru. Not sure of the relative pricing.
Regards
Ian

[FredericoWines]

Hi Frederico
I believe the La Vetta bottling is a selection from the higher elevations within Serradenari Cru. Not sure of the relative pricing.
Regards
Ian

So which one is supposed to taste better?

I paid $38 Cdn for La Vetta '13. Price for the other bottling is $49 Cdn. All after 15% store discount

[Ian S]

An interesting question - you'd assume a selection from within the Serredenari cru ought to be more interesting / pricier than one from the rest of the cru. However their site suggests the La Vetta is the highest plot within Serradenari (and IIRC that makes it the highest plot in La Morra). So perhaps it's one to go for in riper vintages?

The wine I posted on is GBP21 with a local merchant, but he's very good at sniffing out bargains amongst lesser known producers, and I've a recollection it's no cheaper in Italy.

[JamieBahrain]

I had a good look at 2013 Cascina Luiscin over a few nights. The wines were on sale from Berry Brothers 30% cheaper than in Piedmont so I ordered 100 bottles and distributed amongst friends in HKG.

Cascina Luisin ( Little Luigi ) is a traditional producer who are finding their way. For instance roto-fermenters now only used for the barbera and docletto which are my house quaffers in the 2015 vintage.

Cascina Luisin Sorì Paolin Barbaresco 2013- "Fantasy" name of two MGA's Basarin and Rabaja-bas though often referred to as a wine of Neive. The beautiful walk from Neive to Barbaresco town has my mental bias toward the wine being more Barbaresco proper though such are the MGA delineations!

There's an overall deceptive immediacy to the wine, opening up with inviting florals - which over the days include pure red roses, meat grill and neutral old cedar. Round and inviting with integrated ripe tannins, mint and cherry which darkens with aeration, finishing with finesse. Austerity builds by day three and with a rise in tannin intensity- guessing the wine's fantastic now, will shut-down, opening again with great success in 5 years +

92pts +


Cascina Luisin Barbaresco Rabajà 2013- Like the above, this wine is very inviting now with its predicable Rabajà muscle and volume. Aromatics are beguiling- I asked my 10 year old what she could smell- raspberry, cherry, pepper and rocks- which was right on the mark! Ripe and full, gently extracted with the classic Rabajà wrestle of finesse and power- after a few days there's a not off-putting aniseed spirit lifting the fruit.

94pts+


Cascina Luisin Barbaresco Asili 2013- Bruno Giacosa could easily distinguish Asili grapes; a Grand Cru vineyard. Day one a glass showed regal aromatics and an unevolved, closed and classic structure. Revisiting on day three it has an Asili buzz of licorice like fruit and all-spice, as well as a classic mesh of well ripened nebbiolo fruit, some wheat and dry mint. Classically framed, long and elegant, gently mentholated and fresh, powerful ripe tannin structure.

95pts +


Another example of the exponential rise of Barbaresco.








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[Gary W]

I feel really bad here on auswine. Would anyone care to join me drinking great nebbiolo?

Come to Sydney

[rooman]

I feel really bad here on auswine. Would anyone care to join me drinking great nebbiolo?

Come to Sydney

Better still we make a road trip to Hong Kong.

[JamieBahrain]

I feel really bad here on auswine. Would anyone care to join me drinking great nebbiolo?

Come to Sydney

Better still we make a road trip to Hong Kong.

Either or .

[Gary W]

Come to Sydney

Better still we make a road trip to Hong Kong.

Either or .

Would love to visit HK. Not been since 1997!

[rooman]

Better still we make a road trip to Hong Kong.

Either or .

Would love to visit HK. Not been since 1997!

Great place for a Piedmont offline. I have it on the best authority we both know someone with a decent cellar who’s keen to drink.

[FredericoWines]

Saw a bottle of '13 G.D. Vajra Bricco delle Viole. Any one had it or its earlier vintages? Get this one or its sibling, Ravera?

[Ian S]

Hi Frederico
A 1998 Bricco delle Viole last year was very much 'proper' Barolo, good but didn't especially wow me. Worth a try if the price is fair.
Regards
Ian

[JamieBahrain]

Vajra has been improving dramatically over the last decade I’d suggest . 2013 BdV is well worth buying due to rising interest and the exceptional vintage . I’ve seen comments it was close to wine of the vintage for some!

Last few months I’ve had 2001 and 2009 BdV. Great Barolo .