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| Community Tasting Notes (average 89.7 pts. and median of 90 pts. in 6 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by PIZZAandBAROLO on 12/21/2021: Prune juice, unfortunately. A well kept bottle w cork intact. Double filtered to separate sediment. Allowed some air thereafter but there was no resuscitating this. It happens :( (651 views) | | | Tasted by MC2 Wines on 9/13/2019: Disappointing. I should have opened and decanted for sediment earlier in the day. I think some of that got all messed up during transit to the restaurant. Even then though this was that more port-like raisin-y style. Not exactly what it was meant to be. Drinkable and I wonder if it wouldn't have blown off with some more time, but for right now wasn't really singing. (1370 views) | | | Tasted by SteveG on 8/4/2018 & rated 89 points: From memory, bottom neck fill, decanted 1 hour off 2+ inches of sediment. Fairly deep color with minimal browning, and perfectly sound if a little short all around. Enjoyed with sous vide flatiron chimichurri. (1386 views) | | | Tasted by SteveG on 3/15/2015 & rated 90 points: At Nicola. Decanted 9 hours before dinner, still improving at the end. Typical of these old nebbiolos, great old flowers and spice nose, delicate and slightly tangy dark fruit, dirt, and old wood palate, modest but pleasing finish. This wine seemed a little more reserved than many similar. (2914 views) | | | Tasted by drfibb on 4/13/2012: cork was great. color was very brown, even for the age. still alive but had a funk to the taste that hadn't blown off after 30 minutes. will update after an hour. (3574 views) | | | Tasted by Lakejoy10808@hotmail.com on 9/13/2011 & rated 90 points: What a great experience. I rarely open a 40 year old bottle and so was very pleased to find that this wine had a lot of life left in it. On opening it had strong cocoa odor and flavor. We left it to slow oxidize for about an hour and came back to a thinner sharper wine with a hint of prune; not the direction we were hoping for. Gave it about another hour and the fruit flavors came back as did a grippy chalkiness and cocoa. Over the next two hours the wine was strong and complimented a pizza well. It played with the yeast of the doe, the sweet acid of the tomato, the oils of the sausage, etc... this wine was great with food. We ended with a chocolate pairing that was sublime. Worth noting that the bottle had been stood up for about a month. As we drank it became more opaque with with first a brickish tone and then a darker hue. (3674 views) |
| Giuseppe Contratto Producer websiteNebbioloNebbiolo is a red grape indigenous to the Piedmont region of Italy in the Northwest. The grape can also be found in other parts of the world, though they are not as respected.
Nebbiolo is often considered the "king of red wines," as it is the grape of the famed wines of Barolo DOCG, Barbaresco DOCG, and Roero DOCG. It is known for high tannins and acidity, but with a distinct finesse. When grown on clay, Nebbiolo can be very powerful, tannic, and require long aging periods to reach its full potential. When grown on sand, the grape exhibits a more approachable body with more elegant fruit and less tannins, but still has high aging potential.
"Nebbiolo" is named for the Italian word, "nebbia", which means "fog", in Italian and rightfully so since there is generally a lot of fog in the foothills of Piedmont during harvest.
Nebbiolo is a late-ripening variety that does best in a continental climate that boasts moderate summers and long autumns. In Piedmont, Nebbiolo is normally harvested in October.
More links:
Varietal character (Appellation America) | Nebbiolo on CellarTrackerItaly Italian Wines (ItalianMade.com, The Italian Trade Commission) | Italian Wine Guide on the WineDoctorPiedmont Vignaioli Piemontesi (Italian only)
On weinlagen-infoLanghe Consorzio di Tutela Barolo Barbaresco Alba Langhe e Roero | Union of Producers of Albese Wines (Albeisa)BaroloRegional History:
The wines of Piedmont are noted as far back as Pliny's Natural History. Due to geographic and political isolation, Piedmont was without a natural port for most of its history, which made exportation treacherous and expensive. This left the Piedmontese with little incentive to expand production. Sixteenth-century records show a mere 14% of the Bassa Langa under vine -- most of that low-lying and farmed polyculturally. In the nineteenth century the Marchesa Falletti, a frenchwoman by birth, brought eonologist Louis Oudart from Champagne to create the first dry wines in Piemonte. Along with work in experimental vineyards at Castello Grinzane conducted by Camilo Cavour -- later Conte di Cavour, leader of the Risorgimento and first Prime Minister of Italy -- this was the birth of modern wine in the Piedmont. At the heart of the region and her reputation are Alba and the Langhe Hills. This series of weathered outcroppings south of the Tanaro River is of maritime origin and composed mainly of limestone, sand and clay, known as terra bianca. In these soils -located mainly around the towns of Barolo and Barbaresco -- the ancient allobrogica, now Nebbiolo, achieves its renowned fineness and power.
map of Barolo DOCG
An interesting thread on Traditional vs. Modern Barolo producers:
https://www.wineberserkers.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=106291 |
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