HKWS Barolo - Decant or Slow Ox - Tasting Report
5th March 2019, Organizer Alan Kwok
The main aim of this tasting/dinner was to investigate the influence of aeration (time, method) on Barolo. 3 bottles of each of the 6 Barolos below were served in 3 different ways.
First Bottle: 4 hours decanting,
Second bottle: pour between low neck and high shoulder, then slow-ox in bottle for 4 days (96 hours)
Third bottle: pour between low neck and high shoulder, then slow-ox in bottle for 4 hours (classic Audouze method).
The first and second bottles of the six wines (12 bottles together) were served as the evening’s blind tasting wine in the tasting section, and the third bottles (6 bottles) were served with the second course in the dinner section.
1971 Francesco Rinaldi Barolo
1982 Ceretto Bricco Rocche Brunate
1990 Domenico Clerico Barolo Pajana
2004 Aldo Conterno Barolo Romirasco
2010 Cavallotto Barolo Bricco Boschis
2014 Brovia Barolo Unio
The Slow-Ox method, or the Audouze method, was first popularized on the forum of erobertparker.com by Francois Audouze, one of the best know wine collectors and advocates of older wine in France.
It is a very simple method:
You open a wine 4 to 5 hours before drinking
You let it stand
You do not touch it anymore
When it is time, you pour it in the glasses
Audouze mainly uses this method for opening old French wines, but when winelovers around the world uses his method on Barolo wines, the reported opening time increased from hours to days.
Personally, I have had many young Barolo which needs over 5 days of slow-ox to express themselves, while there is a group of Barolo lovers which slow-ox old Barolo (70s or older) for days before serving.
In contrast, aeration time for decanting is much simpler, the common consensus seems to be 2-4 hours before serving.
Advocates of the slow-ox method believes that excessive decanting would greatly reduces the aromas of the wine, and possibly leads to premature shutdown, leading to the famous quote from Audouze: “Everybody knows that when someone is found in a desert, still living but lacking cruelly of food and water, it is crucially important to feed him extremely slowly. If fed too quickly, he could die.”
We put Audouze’s theory to test in this tasting with surprising results.
The Results (Tasting):
Wine Method Group Ranking Total Scores (15 tasters) Number of preference (15 tasters)
A 1971 Francesco Rinaldi Barolo Decant 4 hrs 10 120 Not compared
B 1971 Francesco Rinaldi Barolo Slow-ox 4 days 11 153 Not compared
C 1982 Ceretto Bricco Rocche Brunate Decant 4 hrs 5 82 Not compared
D 1982 Ceretto Bricco Rocche Brunate Slow-ox 4 days 12 167 Not compared
E 1990 Domenico Clerico Barolo Pajana Decant 4 hrs 7 89 6/15
F 1990 Domenico Clerico Barolo Pajana Slow-ox 4 days 6 84 9/15
G 2014 Brovia Barolo Unio Decant 4 hrs 8 103 7/15
H 2014 Brovia Barolo Unio Slow-ox 4 days 9 105 8/15
I 2010 Cavallotto Barolo Bricco Boschis Decant 4 hrs 1(Joint) 64 8/15
J 2010 Cavallotto Barolo Bricco Boschis Slow-ox 4 days 4 74 7/15
K 2004 Aldo Conterno Barolo Romirasco Decant 4 hrs 1(Joint) 64 6/15
L 2004 Aldo Conterno Barolo Romirasco Slow-ox 4 days 3 65 9/15
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Wine B and wine D were unfortunately corked and not included in the analysis, making the decanted 1971 Francesco Rinaldi the least preferred wine by the group.
1971 Francesco Rinaldi Barolo (A: Decanted 4 hrs, B: Slox-ox 4 days)
Prior to the tasting, many feared that the aeration time of 4 hrs / 4 days would be too long for this 48 years old wine, but interestingly, despite that B was tainted, no taster described either wines as oxidative. No first, no second, no last for the decanted wine, it was described as a typical old Barolo, foursquared, and not exciting.
*The dinner wine (slow ox 4 hrs) was judged to be much more vibrant and fresh by the group.
1982 Ceretto Bricco Rocche Brunate (C: Decanted 4 hrs, D: Slox-ox 4 days)
Again, no taster described either wines as oxidative. 2 firsts, 2 seconds, no last for the decanted wine, while D was tainted. The decanted wine was my personal WOTN and overall, it came 5th. The wine was in its sweet spot for the first half of the tasting, and then the intensity of the wine somewhat decreased. Tasters described it as a pretty wine with red fruits, minty, herbal, balsamic and tea notes and loosely knitted structure.
The 1982 Ceretto is the first “Modernist” Barolo of the evening, aged 12 months in 50% new barrique and then 12 months in 2500L botti. From a warm vintage, it made a very convincing case for decanting.
*The dinner wine (slow ox 4 hrs) was again more vibrant, showing more of the silky tannins which Cru Brunate is famous for.
1990 Domenico Clerico Barolo Pajana (E: Decanted 4 hrs, F: Slox-ox 4 days)
The first real comparison of the two aearation methods. 1990 was the first vintage of “Pajana” by ultra-modernist Domenico Clerico, sourced from Cru Ginestra, it underwent a short maceration (7 days), before aging for 18 months in 100% barriques.
Received well within the group, the decanted wine had 3 firsts, 1 second, no last, while the slow-ox wine had 2 firsts, 1 second, and no last. Many were impressed by the exotic spices, and rich, ripe tannins of the wines, but the slow-ox wine was judged as cleaner, and more polished, while the decanted wine was richer and sweeter.
Overall, the ranking of the slow ox wine was 1 place higher, and within the group, 6 people preferred the decanted version while 9 people preferred the slow ox version.
A clear victory for slow-ox.
*Some taster thought that the dinner wine (slow ox 4 hrs) was fresher than the tasting wines (some mentioned the word oxidative), others thought that the dinner wine had harsher tannins.
2014 Brovia Barolo Unio (G: Decanted 4 hrs, H: Slox-ox 4 days)
A direct comparison of the two aeration method on the youngest vintage, 2014. 2014 was considered to be one of the weakest vintage in recent years because of gray summer and heavy rains. Back in traditionist territories, the decanted wine had no firsts, 1 second, and 2 lasts, while the slow-ox wine had no first, 1 second, and no last.
Tasters described the decanted wine as lively, supple, loose-knit, and floral, while the slow-ox wine was judged as more tight knit, more spices, but bitter on finish.
Overall, the ranking of the decanted wine was 1 place higher, and within the group, 7 people preferred the decanted version while 8 people preferred the slow ox version.
A tie, I actually felt that this pair of wines needs even longer aeration!
*The dinner wine (slow-ox 4 hrs) showed much younger tannins significantly less evolved when compared with the tasting wines.
2010 Cavallotto Barolo Bricco Boschis (I: Decanted 4 hrs, J: Slox ox 4 days)
The 2010 vintage of Bricco Boschis was considered to be the most complete vintage and a modern-day classic which bears reminiscent of 1990. It is a vintage which many critics found showing well in its youth, even during cask tastings.
The decanted wine was joint WOTN, and had 2 firsts, 3 seconds, no last, while the slow-ox wine was number 4 with 1 first, 1 second, no last.
Tasters described the decanted wine as rounded, pleasurable, with sweet spice, vanilla, and a smooth palate, while the slow-ox wine was judged as more closed initially but improved with time.
While the rating of the decanted wine was 3 place higher, within the group, 8 people preferred the decanted version while 7 people preferred the slow-ox version.
A clear victory for decanting.
*The dinner wine (slow-ox 4 hr) again showed significantly less development and balance when compared with the tasting wines.
2004 Aldo Conterno Barolo Romirasco (K: Decanted 4 hrs, L: Slow-ox 4 days)
With the decanted wine getting joint WOTN (4 firsts, 1 second, no last) and the slow-ox wine (1 first, 4 seconds, no last) getting third place, this was unquestionably the most preferred wine of the evening, but also the most debated one, tasters discussed throughout the evening regarding the “modern, vanilla oak” tastes of the wine. In the heated discussion, one taster stated that Aldo Conterno is the most overrated winery in Barolo while at the other end of the table, another taster is searching for scientific research results to prove that one cannot get vanilla and toasty notes from botti because the large oak casks cannot be toasted!
Aldo Conterno once stated that “Vanilla, toast, spice and sweet tannins don’t belong in Barolo”, but many tasters did indeed found notes of Vanilla, spice, and sweet tannins in his 2004 Romirasco. The decanted wine was described as complex, delicate yet powerful, like a ballerina, while some found notes of crush ants and vanillas. The slow-ox wine has deeper, finer tannins, and a hint of sour plum extracts.
While the rating of the decanted wine was 2 place higher, within the group, 6 people preferred the decanted version while 9 people preferred the slow-ox version. The overall scores of the two wines were almost identical, 64 vs 65. A tie for me.
It is well known that when compared with his brother, Aldo Conterno did make a more approachable style of Barolo with shorter maceration times, he also used pump over instead of the traditional submerged cap during maceration. An unique practice of the winery is that they recondition their botti by scrapping out part of the oak that has been in contact with the wine the previous year. Is this the reason for the “vanilla taste”? From my personal experience, these tastes do soften over longer extended aeration or with bottle age.
*The dinner wine (slow-ox 4 hr) showed even younger, and some tasters feel that the wine showed better in the tasting section compared with the dinner section.
4 Barolos for dinner. 3 of the greatest traditionist Barolo producers for drinking, and 1 single Cru Barolo in the sauce.
Other Dinner wines:
2016 Claudio Mariotto Timorasso “Pitasso”
Fresh and good extracts, great example and one of the best Timorasso.
2006 Bartolo Mascarello Barolo, Magnum (Slow-ox 4 days)
2006 Giacomo Conterno Barolo Cascina (Slow-ox 4 days)
2006 Giuseppe Cappellano Barolo Pie Rupestris (Slow-ox 4 days)
The dinner ended with a horizontal flight of three 2006 from three of the best traditional Barolo producers. None of the tasters found any oxidative notes, but some tasters detected some pruney notes in the Cappellano which they associate with matured Barolo.
The overall preference of the group was for the all round Bartolo Mascarello and the more exotic, dried fruit driven Cappellano, the Conterno was somewhat more restrained and yet to come to its balance.
Summary and recommendation
Be brave to aerate your young and old Barolos. Nebbiolo can takes lots of oxygen. As one taster said, with age, Nebbiolo just evolve, and becomes another thing.
This tasting shows that decanting do work nicely against slow-ox. A long decant would give roughly comparable, and sometimes even better results than slow-ox for days (Great news when ordering in a restaurant!). However, it must be noted that narrow decanters were used in this tasting.
The 1971 and 1982 were much fresher during the dinner (slow-ox 4 hrs), while 2004, 2010, 2014 definitely needed longer aeration than the 4 hrs slow-ox.
The general overall recommendation from me would be to slow-ox 4 hrs or longer for Barolo over 30 years old, to decant 4 hrs or longer for Barolo under 15 years, and to experiment with both methods for those in between according to the vintage condition and to the style of the producer
In order to add fuel to the debate of the Barolos from Aldo Conterno, I will donate the 1999 Aldo Conterno Barolo Cicala for this year’s annual dinner.
The shape of the decanter used in this tasting.
