March 27, 2024 - Keith's Italian Wine Dinner (Osteria Langhe - Chicago IL): A big step up over the Rocche, lots here as well with a more classic Barolo fruit and spice profile. Red and black cherry , rich and well spiced, charming enough despite a faint hint of VA.
May 20, 2023 - Bouquet of ripe berries, pipe tobacco, tar, mint, undergrowth. Medium-bodied palate, lush, sweet, ripe berries, tertiary elements, some acidity, leading to a long finish, with herbs and spices. Fantastic wine that may lack the ethereal touch of the 2007 crus but still is really great, and in the window.
March 17, 2023 - Il Giallo dinner (Sommelier Guild of Atlanta) (Atlanta, GA): From Mag. Very nice and drinking well at this point!
January 30, 2023 - Wife liked it.
October 22, 2022 - Bouquet of ripe berries, liquor, flowers, vanilla, smoke. Soft, lush, plush palate with a good balance of ripe fruit, minty tones, slight tannic bite, leading to a finish of medium length. Elegant and easygoing Barolo.
August 22, 2021 - Great bouquet of stewed red cherries, liquor, roses and undergrowth. Fantastic palate with a rush of red, ripe fruits with a note of sourness, followed by a tannic hit, leaving notes of Italian herbs, mint which linger for a while. Relatively full yet light, not fully balanced but very interesting with the interplay of sweet, sour, slight bitter tones, floral elements, slight saltiness, spiciness. Since about a year feels like enter early peak phase.
August 20, 2021 - Aromas of root vegetable, black earth and briary fruits. It has excellent volume, with a core of vinous sweetness and delightful savoury nuance. Structural elements are relaxed and it is starting to enter prime time drinking.
August 13, 2021 - Brilliant wine that will only get better. Other recent tasters are spot on with their descriptors. 97pt potential in 5+ years.
October 17, 2020 - Complex bouquet of stewed fruits, pipe tobacco, liquor, roses, vanilla. Very lush and silken palate with a hit of ripe red fruits, sweet, fresh and spicy, with quite a long finish, tannins resolved but still lending some sweet pressure, tertiary elements, more spices tingle for quite a while. Relatively complex and nuanced, maybe not fully harmonic to the last dot. This wine is in an excellent spot. It has greatly improved over the last three years.
February 16, 2020 - Decanted 6 hrs. From the moment of the first scents hit, it was clear this was going to be one special bottle. Deep, soaring notes of roses and soy gave such a nice mix of floral and saltiness. Dark cherries provide all the requisite fruit one would want, and like the nose, very floral, lavender-esque, good driving acid and basalmic tones on the back half. The real pay off was the buoyancy and lightness of the palate, so much material delivered With such nimbleness and grace. Decade(s) of good drinking but showing early greatness. I think Brunate is my favorite Cru and nothing to change that opinion here.