The Auswine Forum

I really want to like the wines of Valtellina, but I've experienced rather too many poor wines. I guess the safer ground is Sfursat / Sforzato but that's not a style I've taken to.

Roero is a safer bet IMO, but over-oaking has indeed been a feature. In addition I find them bigger on the fruit, weaker on the fragrance than the Langhe equivalents or the wines of Northern Piemonte. Can be a good restaurant option where there are no mature wines, as they are often very approachable.

Regards
Ian

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I had this trio open for a good week. It's a lot of fun in good vintages though sometimes all over the place in the vintages that struggle. I'm craving mature nebbiolo now: couple of 99 Bartolo Mascarellos are in a line-up week thank goodness!

Bel Colle Barolo Monvigliero 2014- Over most days there's an awkward and raw rustiness to the fruit. Though by day 5 the horse's been broken- smooth and even layer of dark licorice fruit, spices, all in a classy line on the palate with a puccini dustiness at the edges. The aromatics were always beautiful as they moved through the bands due aeration- red menthol, dry cherry, earth and mint.

I think wine will swing between simple beauty and a vinous petulance.

90pts+


Brovia Unio 2014- I love the steely classines of Brovia. One to watch for all the common sense reasons. They have the vineyards and the passion. Like many.

Just a sidenote. I'm tired of bloggers and wine scribes in Asia talking of the same handful of producers in Piedmont. Articles such as the New Burgundy or the Most Expensive Barolos proliferate on social media here in HKG. I don't think these people like anything but the fact a handful of Barolo wines are appreciating markedly in part their own ignorance and participation in a hyperbole. Back to Brovia. If you know your wines, one to watch!

No single vineyards from Brovia in 2014. Unio is about 40% of the younger vine fruit from Brea and portions of Villero, Rocche, Garblet Sue and Ca Mia. Hard to get the exact story as 50% of their Barolo sold off.

Unio shows off the evolution of Brovia where the wines are better crafted though without an excessive hand. Very dark fruited, violet like, deeply infused with complex spices and a note of floorboards. Over the week the wine builds an even palate spread. Dark fruit extract, though not particularly complex- and I doubt if that will come as oddly, the wine starts to oxidise by week's end. It all works well and a fine effort for what must have been an awful season for Brovia.

91pts+


Massolino Nebbiolo 2017- I don't have the palate to get a good snapshot of the 2017 vintage through this simple bistro wine. And that's it, it is a wine commanding food. It's nervy yet full of energy, dark licorice and old plank wood. With food and over the days, it develops simple nebbiolo red and black fruits, acidity is hard by itself, food drives gratifying mouthfeel with deceptive depth.

The red flag is the hard acidity. But it could be the wine. They have nice suits at Massolino so I'm doubting much goes to waste in their range.

87pts

I have a vague recollection that 2017 had significant problems, but recall nothing more than that. Always better to know a little more of the specifics though, as I'm more comfortable with higher acid / leaner wines than many, but struggle with low-acid heatwave influenced wines. i.e. one man's fault is another's pleasure.

Ian S wrote:I'm more comfortable with higher acid / leaner wines than many, but struggle with low-acid heatwave influenced wines. i.e. one man's fault is another's pleasure.

Completely agree on both the sentiment and palate preference.

I can find joy in many wines of the warmer vintages. 2007, 2009 and 2011 for example. It becomes site specific.

But when I read Ian's comment I think of 2003. I've tired to find joy in the wines as they are cheap to backfill- they are consistently under par.

Hi Jamie
The warmer vintages do hold plenty of successes - indeed the only wine that ever got close to being a house wine for us was 2011 Cascina Saria Langhe Nebbiolo GBP10 for a wonderful lighter Nebbiolo that was utterly true to the grander wines, and developed well over 8 years and still should have a few years left in it. 2007s were favoured restaurant wines for me, being typically open but not hot, so when all that is available is current/recent vintage, these were often a very safe bet. Meanwhile I typically cellared the 2006s, 2008s and 2010s.

2003 was definitely extreme, and running against the general tide, I had a preference for hunting out 2002s (often with plenty of declassified crus). Some shockers, but also some pleasing lighter wines that were enjoyable to drink and good for the price. Marcarini Brunate is the one Langhe 2003 I recall drinking and enjoying (IIRC in a restaurant in Cuneo). Their typically austere / foursquare style perhaps being the right foil for a baking hot vintage. As a counterpoint, tasting the 2003 Produttori del Barbaresco (Barbaresco) at their lovely little wine festival showed the torrid weather had a strong effect. I recall discussing with someone at the time, about a conversation he had with Aldo Vacca. The gist of it was as a co-op they were bound to accept fruit into the standard bottling, that ordinarily they would not want. I wonder whether they now use the Langhe Nebbiolo a little more to mitigate this responsiblity?

However, I would recommend 2003s from Northern Piemonte (Gattinara, Boca etc.) as almost all I've tried have been excellent, seemingly benefitting from the heat in their somewhat cooler climate. I'd love to taste some Valle d'Aosta reds from that vintage as well, as they are often marginal on ripeness as well.

Regards
Ian

Acidity in some of the 2017s may well be a good dose of tartaric due to hot vintage.
Thought 17 Massolino Neb pretty good, but noted a bit of tang. Fruit in the red spectrum as I recall, but tasted quickly at winery (but well enough). Screwcap in Australia, but I tasted under cork at winery.

Thanks, yes, it was screw cap. Day one it was very hard going. The wine improved over the days- noted a nice depth and spread to the palate. But the acidity sure needed food.

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I recall chatting at Marchesi di Gresy ( over half a dozen glasses of their Cru Barbarescos ) and Jeffrey stating that 2014 was producing good Barbaresco in pockets despite seasonal troubles. I guess not everyone thinks so, as I got good offers on PdB riservas. The 2013's I hand carried back, yet the 2014's arrived on my doorstep in HKG cheaper than Alba!

I had this trio open all week. Pora and Rio Sordo are typically the most approchable of the Riservas.

Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco 2014- Polished off by day three. Inviting, ready an evolving faster than normal for the normale. Dusty oak settles amongst lifted florals, classical red and black fruits with a sour cherry note. Expansive on the palate, delivering the aromatics in flavour profile in an exaggerated medium to full manner, with the quick-building fleshiness vulnerable to falling away earlier than most years. Soft and ready, whispy unauthoritative tannins, sourness in the carry, all amongst evolved leather and black fruited flavour persistence.

91pts


Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco Riserva Pora 2014- Intense and straight at it ! Squealy tangerine high notes, florals, deep and dark cherry in mint and thyme. Very complex with emerging fresh leather and earth. A buzz in youthful fruit intensity, amaro and citrus acidity runs borescope like right through the centre of the wine. Its inviting now, probbably best captured in its first 15 years though it was in fine shape on day 6.

93pts


Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco Riserva Rio Sordo 2014- This a beautiful smooth textured wine. It is so alluvial right throughout the week. Unlike Pora, it wanes after four days, becoming simple yet complete. At times you can go hunting for the complexity on the nose and palate- light and gently emerging, always to be in the backgrond with evolution or even a plate of good food. Noted the orange/ citrus lift common in all three. Perhaps the vintage.

It's almost unfair to rate in higher than the normale.

91pts

Was tempted the Francia. Monfortino oh wow!



2013 Barolo Monfortino Riserva
@ £2,750 c/s IB – 8 cases available (3 bts per case)
@ £2,000 per magnum IB – 1 magnum available



2015 Barolo Francia
@ £1,025 c/s IB – 1 case available (6 bts per case)

@ £425 per magnum IB – 1 magnum available


2015 Barolo Cerretta

@ £425 per magnum IB – 2 magnums available



2015 Barolo Arione
@ £425 per magnum IB – 2 magnums available

Francia was much more affordable a decade ago. Indeed I can remember it being ~ £40 a bottle, but suspect that was a little longer ago.

Monfortino a long time out of my league, but I did grab a bottle of the 1979 in a mixed auction lot a few years ago - the price very good considering this was in it. Arguably the value from the auction came from other lots (including a 1993 Pio Cesare Barolo and a surprisingly good old Bardolino!). The Monfortino was tired, but is the sole Barolo I've had that supported the theory about old Barolo needing air, as it did seem to improve towards the end of the bottle.

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Giuseppe E Figlio Mascarello Barolo Monprivato 1999- We opened 4 bottles of these at the famous Tycoons' Canteen - restaurant Fook Lam Moon, in Wanchai, which often makes the gossip news for illegally parked Rolls Royces, with traffic cops idly watching on.

Anyways, I ensured I tried all 4 bottles, keeping the best tucked away for a few of us who appreciate this high-born, though polarising Barolo. I wasn't being selfish, we had endless pours from magnums of 1999 Palmer and 1999 Orenllaia for example.

Two of four bottles were not right. Oxidation high and probable scalping - though Monprivato has a distinct ( to me ) dry hay like note which can be deceiving.

Fresh, beguiling wine. Long and elegant- with a delicate fruit clarity that flows in an underlying power and carry that can only be balanced by the the long length of the wine. It's all in there- dry Italian herbs, licorice/ anise, tobacco, truffle and dominating red plum. The palate is simply put , tar and roses, tumbling about in the wine's carry.

94pts

Castello di Neive Barbaresco Riserva Santo Stefano 2006- I have six of these in Australia for the very, very long term and one in HKG to see how its travelling mid-term. Oddly, cleaning my wine cabinet, I noted the bottle well below the shoulder looking like a 1920's Bordeaux. Cork was perfect so I suspect a short-fill.

Drank more like 30 year old Barbaresco than a fiercely traditional 2006. Dark currants and dried fruit, cocoa and tar. Perfectly even and weighted with a smooth mouthfeel in a darkly unexpressive manner.

NR



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Never heard of this producer before. Only $28 so I bought a bottle to try.

2017 Anduma Langhe Nebbiolo

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13% ABV.

Cherry and very sweet (almost jammy) raspberry fruit, earth, leather, herbs. Good tannins and acid. No oak. Finish is a bit short. A good introduction to Italian Nebbiolo for New World palates, but I much prefer the Benevelli Piero at this price-point. That sweet raspberry fruit is bit too much for me.

Never heard of them either, and based on the label I'd assume a branded negociant wine.

Cappellano 'Otin Fiorin - Piè Rupestris' Barolo 2014- 2014 is pretty mixed for Barolo. A number of critics claim there are some great wines in the mix. I've seen them all over the place with awkward and out of place structure, depth and intensity. Perhaps my new Zalto Gravitas Omega gives hint here with the wine showing quite dark shades. Not usually into gimmicks, though couldn't resist the Omega, for older nebbiolo especially.

This drinks well over three days. Fiery aromatically, with a buzz of cumquat, blood orange and balsam resin. Blackberry and earth the base on the first day, fresh leather, un-evolved red florals and a dash of pepper emerge overnight. Quite something! Texturally polished, delivering a good layer of fruit intensity, tannins are silty and earthy baked fruit flavours persist.

Knocking over the confirmation bias of the vintage, I'm pretty happy with this wine in magnum format for the medium to long term.

93pts+

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Thanks for the note Jamie, good to read a considered note, as I got a couple of the 2014, though I likely won't buy many (any?) others from 2014.

Is the bowl on that Zalto the same as the burgundy stem?

Will

Will

I don't think you will be disappointed with the 2014 Cappellano. It's worth the money just for the aromatics! You could nose it all night. In the medium term the fruit intensity and tannins ( very silty for Serralunga ) will sit nicely and in the longer term who knows? It won't be a bad Barolo medium to long term and in my experience with blind verticals, it could well pip 'many' from lauded vintages. And this is not unlikely with this wine- subject to cork there's always an X- Factor to well cellared Cappellano.

Yes, the Zalto is a bugundy glass, with a indent on the side so it sits in many positions in the horizontal. I have a dozen adolescent Barolo and Barbarescos on my tasting bench so I'll take a clearer snap when I drink them in the upcoming weeks.

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Trying to get a snap of the indent on the Zalto Gravitas Omega glass that allows it to be rotated for aeration. For years I've avoided wine gimmicks and never thought I'd purchase this glass. It's pretty neat but!

Quaffers this week:

Prunotto Occhetti Nebbiolo 2016 showing vintage quality with near perfect ripeness and with fruit depth just beyond the usual quality and not far removed from their basic Barbaresco. Strawberry, black cherry and pine wood. Simple and clean in good length.

90pts


Rizzi Barbaresco Nervo 2011- Alluring mix of sweet florals, red licorice, complex spices and musk. All on am aromatic base of bitter cherry. Delivers with a weighted and complete feel in a medium frame, polished neatly by unobtrusive but evident oak. Warmth of the vintage spikes with the flavour persistence that has a interesting mineral and orange tang - with countering bitter cherry and very gentle, savoury oak spices.

Site elegance goes some way to offsetting vintage warmth.

91pts

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A favourite vintage delivering an amalgam of classic ripe nebbiolo notes. Chiarlo's wines can seem too worked in youth though in time all settles nicely.

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The hand of Roberto is clearly at play here with the next big thing in Piedmont. Really quite something is Nervi ! Nebbiolo nicely framed without a youthful harshness you can find in Barolo and Barbaresco.

Azelia's stunning riserva delivering complex, plump fruit in a Serranlunga package that's proving the long term mettle of the vineyard. Quite something and my second bottle this year.

Montezemolo is pretty typical of La Morra producers with an oak and flavour profile a little heavy. Enrico is actually from Villero. It's a nice wine though a heavy-hand misses the site's beauty. It delivered initially with minerally red fruits and austerity though built toward fruit cake like richness.

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G.D. Vajra Bricco Delle Viole Barolo 2001- This was my last bottle. Bought from a Swiss cellar the wines have been in very good condition. Vajra is another on a seemingly exponential rise with excellent vineyards, attention to detail and improving winemaking.

From the Hill of Violets in Barolo. Very complex wine, nuances individually discernible, then meshing with aeration. Echoing dried peach, mint and menthol, then deeper and developed red cherry on a base of roasted meats and goudron. Flavours of dried cherry, licorice and tobacco meld evenly and deeply across the palate, vibrant acidity giving the wine a youthful buzz.

92pts


Scarzello Giorgio e Figli Barolo del Comune di Barolo 2008- Like the above, from Barolo proper and fruit sourced from around Sarmassa ( just over the road heading up from Barolo village to La Morra ).

Linseed oil, anise, sweet plum-cherry. Lovely and long wine, serving its purpose as my household quaffer. It of course, sits beautifully with food, which draws out dark fruited flesh, spices and some pleasantly evolved sweet red fruits. Stand-alone its a little more austere and earthy, though no less enjoyable, with palate flavours carried off into the after-taste by high natural acidity.

90pts

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Not a great mood last night due the trouncing my AFL team received. Unlike Burgundy, Barolo a little more durable to vinous tenor and intellect. However, can't help feeling a few bottles of Wolf Blass would have served the occasion just as well!

So quick vibes being-

Cappellano showed variation to previous bottles. Now this is sadly not uncommon in this period for this producer. Quite evolved, positively so, with dark dried fruit notes, carob and tar. Emerging red florals and minerality pushed to the background; they generally dominate driving the exquisiteness of the wine.

Pio Cesare's Ornato was a beam of intensity from start to finish. Powerful at the soul, graceful at the edges. Needs a decade to unfold. I'll take another look at this with a 2011 soon. I'll also put it in with an impressive vertical of Ornato back to first vintage 85- and beyond ( have a Pio Cesare labelled Ornato from the 70's ). Oh, and distinctly modern btw!

Gaja makes impressive white wine. This is 90% chardonnay and 10% sauvignon blanc from Langhe - sheer drinkability in class, interest and a complex simplicity.

Bad luck Jamie.
Bontempelli makes the Dogs a 10 goal better side, despite all the talk of Dunkley, Macrae etc. When his influence is nullified, they look a pretty ordinary team.
Fingers crossed for Aaron Naughton, a real young star, let's hope it's just a lateral ligament and not an ACL.
As every Carlton supporter will tell you, there is always next year!!!!

15 goals 28 behinds for the year from Marcus.

I love the Bont. He's gone to another level this year. Exceptional field kicking yet set shots appalling. He misses game-turning simple shots. Even against GWS, we could have hit the lead against the general flow and intensity, yet he missed a set shot. If that scoreline 25-28 he'd be near the undisputed best player in the league.

I'll send him a bottle of Barolo from his birth vintage if he Captain's a winning GF. 1995 which was a blessing after a string of crappy Piedmont vintages. Marcus has been a blessing for the Bulldogs in so many ways. His Italian heritage is Calabrian though ( but I'm sure he'd be swayed by Barolo ).

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Produttori del Barbaresco Langhe Nebbiolo 2012 & 2014 - These are for all intents and purposes Barbrescos. They meet the DOCG requirements. Aldo Vacca says they sort of just make it out of tradition as the fruit is of a quality that could go into their sold out normale. They still make a whopping 140,000 bottles versus 260,000 of the normale. So I'm not sure I'll buy Aldo's spin on quality, beyond that it "could" be legally determined as being a Barbaresco.

I picked up the 2014 at $15 AUD a bottle so its been a quaffer, cooking wine and all round crowd pleaser.

The 2012 was developed with dried fruits and tar and quite powerful in its medium frame. Earthy and assertive tannins.

The 2014 was classic, cool and well delineated "Barbaresco". Quite a joy aromatically and pretty red fruits throughout. A fraction hollow and watery at the edges; suggesting they went a little too far with the normale and riservas in this vintage.

90pts for the pair.

I have October in Europe BTW. Plenty on with family in the south of France and a side trek in Albania. But I have a few days solo. A real craving for Piedmont. Thinking of flying into Malpensa and spending a few days solo in Monforte d" Alba. Drink and eat with the locals and find a few emerging gems.

JamieBahrain wrote:I have October in Europe BTW. Plenty on with family in the south of France and a side trek in Albania. But I have a few days solo. A real craving for Piedmont. Thinking of flying into Malpensa and spending a few days solo in Monforte d" Alba. Drink and eat with the locals and find a few emerging gems.

We will be in Piedmont around the start of Nov for around 2 weeks, cant wait.

Still deciding which town(s) we will stay in this trip, have done Barbaresco, Barolo, Alba and Serralunga previously, thinking either Treiso or Neive for a week and then picking another town from the Barolo region. What makes you lean towards Monforte out of interest?

Treiso is sort of happening. My friend Riccardo has a superb winery B and B loaded with history and he can get you in anywhere you want ( except Gaja and Giacosa ). Neive is superb as well. PM me if interested.

I've had many great dinners and events in Monforte over the last decades or so but never stayed there ( I was even looking at buying a place here a few years back ). I'm a hiker too. So early mornings I'll walk the vineyards- there's a 17.5 KM ring walk of Serralunga, Castiglione Falletto and Monforte d" Alba for example. Afternoon I'll do a winery and then settle in at a bar or restaurant.

Treiso has a small but excellent mix of restaurants, making for a great base, because the car can be left parked up of an evening, with the designated driver getting to have a proper drink.

Want a lighter meal in an enoteca?
Want a genuinely traditional ristorante/trattoria?
Want a cosy trattoria done excellently?
Want a fancy shmancy michelin styled place with showpiece cellar?

4 restaurants all within a minute's walk of each other, covering those 4 bases. The 3rd on the list rather stupidly once lauded as a 'must visit/top 10' by some US travel article, but it strikes me they shrugged that praise off and carried on doing what they always did.

______________

Monforte certainly felt a little more lively to us when we stayed there, and I love the choice of places to eat as well. I do think each visit has its own personality, so it's not really a case of arguing one is better than the others, but rather saying choose one based on:
- it sounds good
- you've found a place to stay that looks good
- you're keen to taste the wines of the village, allowing you to have some visits where you simply walk there

_____________

The walking is indeed excellent, something I bang on about rather too much! Shared vineyard ownership means the vineyards are open access (with very rare exceptions), and not only does this make them very direct walking routes, you're strolling through the very vineyards that you recognise from wines drunk at home or on the holiday. We even went as far as getting some wine glasses engraved (back in the UK) with vineyards we'd walked through on one holiday.

There is a good walking map for ~€10 locally (try the tourist offices), though navigation isn't especially difficult, especially when most villages are on hills, so you can see where you are going. Some slopes are reasonably steep, so it can get a bit 'claggy' is walking in or just after rain, but a few hours of dry can often be sufficient. In walking terms it's not especially strenuous - yes some steep bits or long uphills, but nothing that goes on for so long it's draining. Just take sun protection and water.

With some planning, it's possible to visit a good many wineries by walking between them, either through vineyards or walking on the edge of the road (no pavements outside of the village centre).

La Palazzina, Coste della Sesia, Rosso "Vecchi Vigneti" 2016
La Palazzina is a new producer to me, Coste della Sesia is the DOC which is near Gattinara. A blend of Nebbiolo 50%, Croatina 35%, Vespolina 5%, other grapes 10%

This wine is dangerously easy to drink, however weighs in at a glorious 12.5% alcohol. Do not let this fool you, it is not lacking in depth or flavour. The nose has alpine herbs, fresh pine needles and a whiff of violets in a terracotta pot. There is a burst of fresh raspberry flavour, cranberry acidity an velvety tannins. Mouthfilling and approachable, the balance is excellent.

This was a steal at $45.