TN: Melbourne Group Tastes 2014 Produttori de Barbaresco

[mychurch]

5F865847-5F70-4224-9618-1A0F2677B16E.jpeg

Another fun afternoon, this time with Micheal hosting.

Con offered to bring along the full range of Produttori del Barbaresco from the 2014 vintage, and we jumped at the chance to taste the different Barolo vineyards next to each other.

The full lineup of the day was

2018 Metodo Classico Rose, Cantina Delsignore

The 2014 Barolos served in 5 flights

Barbaresco.
Rio Sordo.

Ovelo.
Pora.

Muncagota.
Montefico.

Montestefano.
Paje.

Asili.
Rabaja.

Followed by

2016 Barolo Aleste, Sandrone
2010 Barolo Terlo, Luigi Einaudi
1970’s Moscato do Trani Liquoroso, Marasciuolo

Bubbles were great, made from Nebbiolo, with lots of red current fruit and a lot of fizz. A mid session palate refresher was showing cream notes and this will keep, if you have the will power.

The reds were arranged in terms of power and Cons perceived quality. I took notes, but I think I will let the others comment on the individual wines as I really am not familiar with the style or the grapes. A few thing to note
- the basic Barbaresco had some browning on the edge and was definitely older tasting and looking than the Crus
- Con sourced the wines originally from 2 merchants at different times. Those that were not bought on release showed a lot of VA and seemed to be oxidised in comparison to the on release purchases.
- the wines showed a conformity in style with the winemaking style being more pronounced at this stage than the terroir.
- While a couple of the wines showed some dry tannin, those were the exception and generally I found the tannin to be quite soft.
- my favourite wines of the afternoon were those that had the higher acidity (Pore and Paje)
-the last 4 wines showed a step up in quality from the first 6. The mouth feel and texture was more seductive and I think each would make a great dinner wine.
- the difference in the vineyards was not as pronounced as was expecting. Not sure if it’s due to the relative youth or the fact that the differences are not as marked
- The Rabaja was the only wine of the day that reminded me of old school Italian wine. It had the VA and the rustic feel I remember and while some might have found it faulty, I really enjoyed it.
- we were all tasting from large glasses (Riedel Sommelier Burgundy in my case ) and with generous poirs and not a lot of spitting, we definitely consumed too much to give a fair appraisal to the 2 extra Barolos at the end of the tasting
- Jerrem tried the same wines from a few of the different glasses and there were big differences between them all.
- I have not tried a lot of Auz Nebbiolo, but i have had a few and those don’t seem a million miles away from these Italian wines.

We finished on a night though with a fantastic bottle of Liquor Muscat from Trani. It won some awards at shows in the early 70’s, and probably dated from around that period. Such a silky wine with bags of flavour.


Next session is planned for Nov, with a Granite Hills v Sepplt Drumburg tasting, although there may be a Cullen v Moss Wood lunch at the start of Oct.

[JamieAdelaide]

Nice one. Any impressions of Sandrone Aleste 2016? I think his wines are beautiful and cop a whack of unconscious bias in their modernist label. The fruit is so damn pure!

PdB browning is typical of the variation of this producer. It’s probably a bit of everything. It was my house quaffer for many vintages as I paid $30 for it in HK. A box of 12 you’d get 4 reflecting the vintage in exemplary fashion.

My approach to horizontals, if you look at the terroir, go with the M’s last. They are the most powerful. You want to consider the nuance of Asili ( especially ) and Rabaja beforehand.

[mychurch]

21CC0F2B-64BB-43BB-B871-337CB4BB65C0.jpeg

4C97724A-4FB1-4FDD-98E0-F61E3A36861B.jpeg

0435477D-C37B-410E-B69C-4B63965969A3.jpeg

[mychurch]

Worth adding that I woke up this morning with the taste of Barolo on my tongue. These wines are more seductive than I noticed yesterday and I think belong in the beguiling category.

[mychurch]

Nice one. Any impressions of Sandrone Aleste 2016? I think his wines are beautiful and cop a whack of unconscious bias in their modernist label. The fruit is so damn pure!

Jamie

No notes from me on the Sandrone. The wines were quite easy to drink and as we had such large glasses even a small pour was quite a lot of wine. Should have spat more as by the end I was completely sozzled. A couple of the group were taking detailed notes though and pouring, so I would expect some nuanced notes at some stage.

Out of the lot, the Montestafano would be the one I would want in my collection - I think that’s the one that has been on my tongue all morning.

[cuttlefish]

I enjoyed this tasting for the laughter and good times, interspersed with intelligent and informative conversation as much as for the stunning lineup. Loads of fun!

A big thank you to all who brought wines along, but in particular to Con, for your very, very generous contributions.

When I go back over my notes, I see a lot of similar descriptors used, which alludes to the point you made earlier, Cam, about conformity (or uniformity) between the cru's.

I do wonder if the differences in each of the cru's might become more apparent as they age further, but then it just as well might be my inability to discern, or my inexperience with the grape and producer to be able to tell..

That said, some stunning wines were amongst them!

The opening sparkling wine I loved:
Cantina Del Signore Rose Extra Brut 2018 - Aromas of dried flowers, sea breeze, and faintly foresty, with good palate weight assisted, perhaps, by a tiny amount of residual sugar. Delicious, plump red fruit flavours. I could guzzle this all day long.

Flight 1
Barbaresco - Faint cedar, bitumen, dried flower aromas. I thought I detected a faint greenness, with fine, firm tannins

Rio Sordo - More pungent, concentrated nose of red florals, bitumen, stemminess, tobacco, and sweet rose bath salts. Plenty of power on the palate, but quite graceful.

Flight 2
Pora - Faintly meaty aroma, with stems, dry leaves and some beautiful subtle asian spice, deli meats, and I though milk chocolate. Great balance on the palate with lovely very fine tannins and a dry finish.

Ovelo - Faint aroma of perspiration, sweet leaf, dry earth, gum, and nervy spice behind more forward aromas of concentrated dried flowers. Lovely acidity and depth of flavour.

Flight 3
Muncagota - A much more developed colour. Dry-earthy, sappy, stemmy, menthol/pine, and savoury aromas. Powerful acidity.

Montefico - Aromas of crushed rock/mineral, damp cedar/forest and peppery spice. Seems a touch reticent to me.The palate again so fine, but oozing power with a nice, powerfully dry finish.

Flight 4
Montestefano - Aromas of sweet spice, dry and green leaf elements, and a mineral note. Perhaps a touch of umami, here.

Paje - Real density of aroma, with glace cherry, mint/menthol. Sappy and vaguely foresty. Powerful and seamless on the palate. Lovely fruit-forward wine.

Flight 5
Asili - Faintly smoky. This conjured a memory of youth somehow, but I couldn't put my finger on it. Dry leaves, stems, and gum. So silky on the palate. I really liked this.

Rabaja - Sweet, toasty cedar. An overall richer aroma, with peppery spice. Wonderful mouthfeel; acid and tannins.

Flight 6
Luigi Einaudi Barolo '10 - Lovely eucalyptus notes, dried orange peel, faint brettanomyces, smoke. A lovely palate entry; sweet, gentle red fruits and nice, fine ripe tannins, but overall quite silky. A good representation of a great vintage?

Sandrone Barolo '16 - AN aroma of sweet cedar/sawdust, and coconut. A very powerful, dry finish.

I loved the two sweet finishing wines that came after all of this, but that is where my notes ended...a bit of palate fatigue. I wasn't smashed, but I was probably juuust tipsy. Just the right amount.

Again, it was a hoot catching up with you all.

Can't wait for the next one!

Cf.

[I Love Shiraz]

Thanks for the tasting notes Tom. A lot of great wines and even better banter.

Thanks for supplying the Produttori Del Barbaresco's Con.

[JamieAdelaide]

When I go back over my notes, I see a lot of similar descriptors used, which alludes to the point you made earlier, Cam, about conformity (or uniformity) between the cru's.

I do wonder if the differences in each of the cru's might become more apparent as they age further, but then it just as well might be my inability to discern, or my inexperience with the grape and producer to be able to tell..

This is a great observation and took me years to get my head around. Obviously PdB gets grapes from all over the Cru, and blends to reflect a more generic expression. Bruno Giacosa could taste a grape from Asili and know the vineyard.

Something else worth considering and I put it to you from my perspective of having organised formal and informal tastings. Some of these, as a committee member of an international Piedmont wine organisation as well as the well connected Hong Kong wine society, were run or supervised by significant wine personalities- Gaja, Mascarello and probably the most dramatically insightful, Masnaghetti. English speakers dominate our wine commentary and especially in the US and Australia, notes are dominated with subjective descriptors. In translation, Italians talk of these wines differently, void of descriptors the language is far more pertinent to terroir. They look at us bemused as we talk of red and black fruits, they will talk with reverence and more mystery of the vineyard soils and aspect-and hence a far more general description.

Catching up with my Italian wine loving friends in HK tonight. I’m so envious and so passionate about these wines I came out of retirement so I could access them with ease again. I work for a U.S. freight company so arrivederci Shiraz.

[Ian S]

Certainly Masnaghetti and d'Agata are hugely interested in terroir, so it's natural that features prominently in their writing. I don't know of an English speaking reviewer/writer who has a similar interest, or was as embedded in the culture/region. Perhaps Belfrage was the closest, or maybe Galloni when he specialised in Piemonte... but not these days.

There's certainly a tendency for the big wine review sites to 'parachute' someone in to a region, which despite it being an interest of theirs, it won't be the same as someone who's got that singular focus.

A mere decade has seemingly transformed Kerin O'Keefe from a reasonably rough reception of her 1st book (on Brunello), to a guru on Italian wine for Americans on another chat site.

Whilst I absolutely see a place for wine descriptors (without the pretentious element some fall into), there is indeed a tendency for English speaking writers to solely focus on that, and especially true of those tasting 60-100 wines in a session - understandable really if they insist on such 'ironman' tasting sessions. Similarly if they're just tasting wines in the bottle, rather than visiting wineries and regions, there simply isn't any experience in terroir to share, nor the specifics of the seasonal weather to put in context.

[JamieAdelaide]

Just racking my brains the greatest and most definitive Barbaresco horizontals I’ve experienced.

- 9am tasting with the great man Bruno Gicosa. Regular and Riservas from 2007 plus some .

- Roagna Paje, Paje VV and Crichet Paje.

- Gaia Gaja at Palace Gaja. What a breathtakingly passionate person whose commentary and tasting was incredible.

- Knights of Alba HK Chapter Asili. Sometime later Rabaja. COVID shortened my tenure here as a committee member.

- Marchesi Di Gresy with Jeffrey Chilcott on the Martinenga Monopole. Multi-vintage horizontals cross their two Cru’s and normale

A few more too I think. I did a 2008 PdB horizontal which was a success due vintage and lesser expectation of dramatic nuance between Cru’s.

So much fun and pleasing to see it being done in Oz.

[Rossco]

Worth adding that I woke up this morning with the taste of Barolo on my tongue. These wines are more seductive than I noticed yesterday and I think belong in the beguiling category.

Epic night Cameron and Con. Reminds me a lot of the 2005 Cru PdB i attended last year. Sounds like everyone has a great and educational night