Q1 - 2018 Tasting - Aged Barolo Theme
NY, NY
Tasted Saturday, February 3, 2018 by retired_and_roving with 790 views
Introduction
The theme for this quarterly tasting was aged Barolo (10 + years). I was really excited about this because I don't have a lot of experience with Barolo, but two of my all time favorite wines tasted are older Barolos. We had a great range of vintages from 1958 through 2004, which was very interesting. One thing I expected to be blown away by was the aromatics, and I have to say that was surprising because I did not get a lot of the rose petals on any of the wines. Perhaps given the format with many wines, lots of people, smaller pours and food, the aromatics get overwhelmed (not sure about that).
Another observation is that I think these older wines really benefit from proper decanting. The instructions from Chambers St. recommended decanting off the sediment with a steady hand and a good light source. Then decanting the wine for 6-8 hours for Barolos and Barbarescos up to 20 years and 3-4 hours for older Barolos and Barbarescos. I am not sure if all the bottles were decanted prior to the tasting so some of them might not have shown as well as they might have.
This time to keep track of my preferences on a comparitve basis I have given each wine a score of 1-4 *s - with 4 being the highest. I decided not to assign numerical ratings.
For overall voting results please refer to mc2wines tasting story here: https://www.cellartracker.com/event.asp?iEvent=37484&searchId=8C476EDB%23selected%253DW31728_10_Kbec65d209314c40602df0d9fecbfc7da
Flight 1 - Double Blind Barolo Tasting (17 Notes)
Flight 2 - Bonus Bottles (7 Notes)
Some champagne palate cleansers followed by a number of additional bottles that people brought to share.
There were also a bunch of other bottles knocking about that I never made my way too.
Closing
My four favorite wines of the tasting were as follows:
#1 Wine 6 - 1997 Roberto Voerzio Barolo Cerequio
#2 Wine 14 - 2004 Roberto Voerzio Barolo Rocche dell'Annunziata Torriglione
#3 Wine 4 - 1985 Giacomo Brezza e Figli Barolo
#4 Wine 8 - 1982 Azienda Bricco Rocche (Ceretto) Barolo Brunate
1982 Francesco Rinaldi e Figli Barolo
Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
1/17 wines tasted double blind. Color is quite light and brown. Nose is old and musty like an antique bookstore. The palate however is quite nice - leather, dry autumn leaves and pine needles, and then soy sauce and mushroom notes. I enjoyed this. My guess was this was an '82 or '78 vintage. 3*
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1997 Roberto Voerzio Barolo Cerequio
Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
2/17 wines tasted double blind. Color is ruby red with some browning just on the edge - clearly much more youthful than #1. The nose is not very expressive. On the palate, red berries, leather, some grippy tannins on the finish. My guess was early 2000 vintage. Enjoyable - 3.5*
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2004 Poderi Luigi Einaudi Barolo Cannubi
Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
3/17 wines tasted double blind. Ruby red no browning on this at all - so appears younger than #2 but the palate tastes much more advanced - leaning to musty, not a lot of fruit here. Very little aromatics also - perhaps mild TCA? 1.5*
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1985 Giacomo Brezza e Figli Barolo
Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
4/17 wines tasted double blind. Turns out this was actually one of the bottles we brought after reveal. Wine was decanted for 3 hours - bottle rinsed and double decanted back to bottle. Color was quite brown, the nose was leaning to old bookstore again. The palate on this one was really interesting with notes of balsamico, soy and truffle - quite savory but also smooth with all tannins resolved. One of my top 5 - which surprised me as when I tasted in the morning - I thought it was going to be DOA. Glad I followed Chambers decanting advice. 4*
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2004 Giuseppe E Figlio Mascarello Barolo Monprivato
Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
5/17 wines tasted double blind. Clearly much younger than the first four wines, still showing red fruit, zippy acidity and grippy tannins. Felt like this needed food as it was a bit drying in the mouth, but nice structure that should age beautifully. Cellar for 10 more years. My guess was early 2000's vintage. 3*
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2000 Roberto Voerzio Barolo Cerequio
Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
6/17 wines tasted double blind. Probably one of my favorite wines of the tasting - just drinking really well right now although definitely on the younger side of the wines in the line up. Seems like this one might be made in more of a drink early style. Nose of cherries and flowers and on the palate juicy cherries and tar, maybe a hint of roses and then some earth. 4*
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1967 Fratelli Barale Barolo Flawed
Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
7 of 17 wines tasted double blind. The color was very pale (so clearly quite old), but the nose was just soaking wet cardboard left for weeks in grandma's basement smell - could not get it past the nose to taste. Very corked. - sadly - 0*
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1982 Azienda Bricco Rocche (Ceretto) Barolo Brunate
Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
8/17 wines tasted double blind. This one also ended up being one of the ones we brought - so I know that it was decanted for 3 hours and double decanted back to bottle - upon which time the cork reinserted for travel broke off into the bottle - so ended up serving in decanter for tasting. Color is quite brownish and translucent. Nose is on the musty old bookstore side again. The palate is more interesting than the nose - leather, dry leaves, some soy, but on the finish gets a bit acidic and thin. My guess was a 1980's vintage. Interesting - 3.5*
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1973 Fratelli Barale Barolo
Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
9/17 wines tasted double blind. This is a bit more red than brown in color. Nose is not too expressive. On the palate, initially presents with a lot of acidity, but smooths out and starts to reveal the leather and earth and mature cherries. Nice but probably would have improved with more air and with food. I guess a 90's vintage - so clearly this is drinking much younger than its age. 3*
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2004 Fratelli Seghesio Barolo Vigneto la Villa
Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
10/17 wines tasted double blind. This one looked very young in the glass, ruby red - no bricking. On the palate is tasted very muted old and musty - no bright fruits so it was confusing to me. Perhaps some mild TCA?? 1.5*
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1967 Giacomo Borgogno & Figli Barolo
Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
11/17 wines tasted double blind. Bring out the FUNK!! Wow did this one have a "stinky in a good way" nose on it. It was the first wine in the line up that had a powerful nose of any kind. The color was quite pale and translucent. On the palate this was feminine, and pretty - more tea leaves and fragrant herbs, not much fruit. I really enjoyed this. My guess was very old 70's?? 3.5*
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1958 Giacomo Borgogno & Figli Barolo
Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
12/13 wines tasted double blind. This one was not in my wheelhouse but I was an outlier here as it was the group's favorite overall. The color was almost straw gold. On the palate it came across as thin and acidic to me - not a lot else. Given others opinions I went back and to taste again about 30 minutes later and it seemed more open, but still not that alive for my palate. 2*
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1974 Marcarini Barolo Brunate
Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
13/17 wines tasted double blind. Wow after the previous wine this one has incredibly assertive tannins - it really was very mouth drying. I went to grab some food before finishing my pour and it really balanced the wine out and allowed the fruit to show itself. This seemed much younger than it was and I liked it. 3*
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2004 Roberto Voerzio Barolo Rocche dell'Annunziata Torriglione
Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
14/17 wines tasted double blind. Obviously a much younger wine, given the ruby red color and the bright red fruits on the palate. This seems fresh and lively and very easy to drink. 4*
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1971 Marchesi di Barolo Barolo
Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
15/17 wines tasted double blind. The nose on this is very bretty - this one is actually too stinky for me - a little hard to get past the nose. I actually may have dumped the glass here as my notes don't go beyond the smell. 1*
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1997 Domenico Clerico Barolo Ciabot Mentin Ginestra
Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
16/17 wines tasted double blind. Seems like this is one of the younger wines in the line-up. No browning in the color and the nose seems hot with alcohol. On the palate this also has a lot of alcohol burn - I think this would have definitely benefited from a decant. 2*
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1990 Giordano Barolo
Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
17/17 wines tasted double blind. Minimal tasting notes here as I tasted this after I had finished my voting. My sense is that it was middle of the pack, not really standing out - although I don't know that it received proper focus - 2*
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