Barolo Bash

I Trulli, NYC
Tasted Thursday, March 16, 2006 by trankin with 1,241 views

Introduction

WOW!!! What an evening! Last night a dozen of us got together at I Trulli for an amazing Barolo Bash organized by the lovely and talented Kim Caldwell. The theme was Older Barolo's, and all I can say is WOW! A truly spectacular collection of wines, wonderful company, great food, excellent service. Just AWESOME!

The group: Kim Caldwell, who did just an incredible job putting this together, Mark Golodetz, Gary and Cindy Alweiss, Jeff Filippi, Ben Fackler, Ken Schneider, Alan Emdin, Pat De Marco, myself, Alan Goldfeder, and Charles Oransky.

The setting: I Trulli, which I had never been to, and who did just an incredible job. Anyone looking for a great Italian dinner in NYC needs to try this place out. Great food, outstanding friendly service. They really did us right!

The wines: 11 Barolos & 1 Barbaresco, from 1971 to 1985. Not a single corked wine in the bunch. A couple still too young, maybe one past prime, mostly drinking just wonderfully.

I'm not sure how I wound up elected to write up the notes, but everyone else at the dinner promised to correct and expand upon my notes so I'm looking forward to the debate. All notes and scores are mine, and there are definitely people at the dinner who will disagree with some of them.

Flight 1 - The Opening Salvo (3 Notes)

We started off strong! The first flight was the youngest of the night, not just in age, but in how the wines presented themselves. To me, both of the Gaja's were still young and tight, and could have benefitted from a little air. The Sori San Lorenzo was maybe a touch unbalanced to me, although the Costa Russi I thought might continue to improve. The Giacosa was truly excellent and was my favorite of the flight. The group chose the Costa Russi by 7 to 5 for the Giacosa. This was served with Panelle - chickpea fritters with goat cheese.

  • 1985 Bruno Giacosa Barbaresco Gallina di Neive 96 Points

    Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco

    Beautiful. Light red in color. Nose of cedar, rosewood, sandalwood. Beautiful, big, robust wine. Nice integrated tannins which soften quickly. Drinking wonderfully right now. My WOTF.

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  • 1982 Gaja Barbaresco Costa Russi 95 Points

    Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco

    Notably darker red, but still translucent. The nose is much less vibrant than the Giacosa. Darker palate and very tight. Needs some air time. Leather notes, dark cherries, some cedar. I think this will improve over the next several years. I suspect this would have also shown even better with an hour or two of decanting. Group's WOTF by a small margin vs the Giacosa.

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  • 1982 Gaja Barbaresco Sorì San Lorenzo 92 Points

    Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco

    The darkest wine of the flight. A muted nose that gradually opens a little. Cedar predominates heavily on the palate. Very tight. Gradually cherries and strawberries emerge, along with some leather. At the end, there's a bit of searing acidity which mars an otherwise beautiful wine.

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Flight 2 - Round 2 (3 Notes)

A consistently good flight, but nothing that blew me away. The group was split evenly between the Renato Ratti and the Vietti. The restaurant manager showed up at the end of this flight with a surprise guest - Pietro Ratti whose father made the Renato Ratti wine. As a result, the tie was given to the Ratti! This course was served with a choice of wild mushroom risotto or orechiette with oxtail ragu. There was some debate as to whether the difference in wine preference was due to the food choice, which I suspect had at least something to do with the preferences.

  • 1982 Fontanafredda Barolo Riserva 92 Points

    Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

    This was the only wine of the night that had air prior to serving. This was decanted for about 4 hours ahead of time. Medium-light red, with a beautiful open nose of cedar and strawberries. Very big wine, slightly acidic, with strong strawberry notes. Became a bit more acidic and sharp and somewhat less enjoyable.

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  • 1982 Renato Ratti Barolo Marcenasco 93 Points

    Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

    Medium Red. The nose is closed. To my palate, this was a touch thin. Big strawberries and cherries. Enough to make you pucker. Others liked this wine alot more than me.

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  • 1982 Vietti Barolo Bussia 94 Points

    Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

    Dark red, still translucent. Big cherries and very fruit-driven, especially for a wine this old. Much more fruit than any of the wines thus far. Enormous, still quite tannic. Beautifully balanced and harmonious, with lots of life left. My WOTF.

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Flight 3 - The Main Course (3 Notes)

A quick side story to give the restaurant the credit they deserve. As the sommelier was about to start pouring the wines for this flight, one of the attendees pointed out that the wine glasses were a touch on the warm side, having recently come out of the dishwasher. The sommelier picked up one of the glasses, agreed, apologized and had fresh cooler glasses brought over to correct the issue. It's so nice to see a restaurant that actually cares and does what it takes to do the right thing!!!

Anyway - this flight was spectacular. Despite the bad jokes about our "mexican sombrero" wine, all 3 wines were wonderful, with the Sobrero being a surprise hit given that most of us had never heard of it. The Sobrero wound up as the group's WOTF with 6 votes, while the Conterno and Rinaldi tied with 3 votes apiece. These wines were served with a main course choice of rack of lamb, braised rabbit, or braised breast of veal.

  • 1982 Poderi Aldo Conterno Barolo Vigna Cicala 93 Points

    Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

    Light red, fading into the browns. Looks and smells older than the other wines tonight. Lots of caramel and cedar, but still very nice fruit and drinking well. Probably a bit past its prime, but still a very nice wine.

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  • 1982 Filippo Sobrero & Figli Barolo 95 Points

    Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

    Nice cedar nose, although not the most vibrant. Acidic strawberry and cedar on the palate. Very nice - amazing with food to balance out the acidity. Beautiful fruit on this. A really wonderful surprise from a producer I've never heard of. Tastes young. Group's WOTF.

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  • 1982 Francesco Rinaldi e Figli Barolo Cannubbio 96 Points

    Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

    Beautiful smooth nose. Dense, with nice stuffing. (I thought dense in a good way, not everyone agreed) Great strawberry and sour cherry fruit and wonderful acids. Perfectly balanced and in harmony. Just singing tonight. My WOTF.

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Flight 4 - The Final Flight (3 Notes)

WOW!!! That's sums up this flight for me. The oldest wines of the group, and they were just spectacular. In many respects, they tasted younger than the other wines tonight, except the Gaja's. By far my favorite flight, and I loved every other flight! The vibrancy and youth in these wines, particularly the Valentino and Conterno was just unreal! I was just blown away. Served with a cheese course.

  • 1978 Azienda Bricco Rocche (Ceretto) Barolo Brunate 93 Points

    Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

    Thick and rich wine, with a gorgeous nose. Initially just a touch flat, but then opens up into a really wonderful wine. Wonderful cedar, sandalwood, and cherries. Was doing much better for me until after about 30 minutes this seemed to slide over the edge and start falling apart a bit.

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  • 1978 Podere Rocche dei Manzoni Barolo Riserva 96 Points

    Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

    A beautiful wine! Not the most vibrant nose, but the palate is incredibly vibrant and nicely acidic. Big, wonderful strawberries. Incredibly young and vibrant. Just wonderful! This just barely edged out the G Conterno 71 for me as WOTF and WOTN.

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  • 1971 Giacomo Conterno Barolo Riserva 96 Points

    Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

    WOW! This is beautiful. Looks young - nice red, no bricking at all. Nose of strawberries, maybe just a hint of rubber. Beautiful strawberries and balsamic on the palate. Truffles shining through. This wine is just singing! Amazing that a wine this age is drinking this well. This is just fabulous! Edged out by a hair for me by the Valentino due to the Conterno's slightly higher acidity and slight rubber on the nose. Group's WOTF and WOTN.

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Closing

There was a dessert course served, along with a Giacomo Bologna Brachetto d'Acqui "Braida" 05 which was nice and fresh.

The votes were tallied, and the winner of Wine Of The Night was the 71 G Conterno, followed by the 78 Ceretto, and a tie for third between the 78 Valentino and the 82 Rinaldi. In my opinion, you couldn't go wrong with a single one of the wines tonight!

This was certainly one of the best wine dinners I've ever had. The wines were just amazing and the company and restaurant were excellent.

Thanks again Kim for putting this together! And thanks everybody for a great evening and wonderful wines!

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