This was a 50th Birthday bottle gift from friends. Shared amongst 8 of us at a special dinner and served alongside a fresh truffle pasta course. Very special if you enjoy older vintages. Wonderfully complex and rich. Leather, tobacco, and herbs. Some floral as well. Very good.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
Another of the Luigi Pira bottlings and excellent again. Decanted about 7 hours prior to drinking, this needs air, but it delivers. Strong barnyard nose gives way to earth, goudron, flowers, musty air, violets etc.. Still vigorous with years to go. It was interesting to see how about 2/3 of the diners, tasting 4 old baroli, kept going back to this wine for that old Piemonte experience with truffles while the remaining 1/3 preferred a 1966 Luigi Calissano Barolo, a wine that really didn't taste that much like a Barolo to me. Could be that some poor wretched souls might not really like old style Barolo. Well, McDonalds always has a line..
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
The cork crumbled a little but was in reasonable nick as it was drawn from the bottle. The initial smell was of bitter chocolate and sweet cedar. The wine breathed up marvellously and emitted all sorts of ethereal smells including porcini, truffle, dried figs, roses, curry leaf, raisins and earth. In the mouth it was sweet and vinous with outstanding freshness and excellent acidity. A near perfect bottle of wine.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
There are 2 bottlings of this wine and apparently they are very different. This was actually not the Chiara Boschis bottling, but rather the Luigi Pira bottling, which seems to be far better. The 2 can be distinguished by a subtle difference between the bottles (not the labels) where the Chiara Boschis bottles say "Albesia" on the shoulder and have a shorter neck. Some tasting notes I have read here and elsewhere suggest that you avoid the Chiara Boschis, although I have no experience with it. Anyway, this is a lovely bottle, but it requires significant air time and appropriate food. Bottle, fill, capsule and cork in excellent condition. "Pigiate a piedi" - grapes crushed by feet! Opened and tasted then decanted immediately about 2.5 hours prior to drinking. Licorice note prominent and very slight maderization initially, but very barnyardy funk dominated. Still smelled a bit like manure 2 hours later, but much better and this eventually dissipated completely. Initially tight and unwound very slowly. Again, a great lesson in the individuality of these old style wines as it constantly changed and improved. Nice array of cinnamon, spices, goudron etc. Vigorous and full bodied. Years of life ahead for well-stored bottles. The last sip was the best, which tells me that this could have stood several hours more in the decanter. Lovely wine from a great master.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
Smells terrible, like you just ran over a skunk, backed up, and ground your tires over it a few more times. I did not want to put this in my mouth, but I did. It didn't taste as bad as it smelled, but then, how could it?
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
A night of fine wine, food, and company (NYC): This is an entirely different beast and a beast it is. the nose is funky with my first thoughts turning to figs and an old car ashtray. It certainly has alot of stink going on as well but in there one can also find notes of beeswax and pollen, old wood, deep roasted cherry notes and top notes of grapevine smoke. This seems a bit stretched thin on the palate but there is a core of rich red fruits laying deep within. Integrated acidity with ample ripe tannins and a richly terry mid-palate that leads to a bright refeshing finish with notes of dried juniper and clay lingering in the mouth. The wine is almost a bit sticky with it's persistence, good flavor intensity if decidely on the savory side and while I find this a touch dirty it is by no means defective. Tread by foot from vines in S. Lorenzo, Preda, Vignane, and Cannubi.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
9/5/2023 - BHP1994 Likes this wine: 93 Points
This was a 50th Birthday bottle gift from friends. Shared amongst 8 of us at a special dinner and served alongside a fresh truffle pasta course. Very special if you enjoy older vintages. Wonderfully complex and rich. Leather, tobacco, and herbs. Some floral as well. Very good.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
2/22/2021 - sharonandroland Likes this wine: 94 Points
Pure and incredibly fresh. Very ethereal.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
1/21/2017 - galenico Likes this wine: 94 Points
Ricorda la finezza eterea e floreale dei vecchi Boca di Cerri, fresco, minerale, incredibilmente scattante e profumato. Un sussurro commuovente.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
11/23/2015 - vindictive wrote:
Another of the Luigi Pira bottlings and excellent again. Decanted about 7 hours prior to drinking, this needs air, but it delivers. Strong barnyard nose gives way to earth, goudron, flowers, musty air, violets etc.. Still vigorous with years to go. It was interesting to see how about 2/3 of the diners, tasting 4 old baroli, kept going back to this wine for that old Piemonte experience with truffles while the remaining 1/3 preferred a 1966 Luigi Calissano Barolo, a wine that really didn't taste that much like a Barolo to me. Could be that some poor wretched souls might not really like old style Barolo. Well, McDonalds always has a line..
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
11/20/2010 - Jeremy Holmes wrote:
The cork crumbled a little but was in reasonable nick as it was drawn from the bottle. The initial smell was of bitter chocolate and sweet cedar. The wine breathed up marvellously and emitted all sorts of ethereal smells including porcini, truffle, dried figs, roses, curry leaf, raisins and earth. In the mouth it was sweet and vinous with outstanding freshness and excellent acidity. A near perfect bottle of wine.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
12/2/2008 - vindictive wrote:
There are 2 bottlings of this wine and apparently they are very different. This was actually not the Chiara Boschis bottling, but rather the Luigi Pira bottling, which seems to be far better. The 2 can be distinguished by a subtle difference between the bottles (not the labels) where the Chiara Boschis bottles say "Albesia" on the shoulder and have a shorter neck. Some tasting notes I have read here and elsewhere suggest that you avoid the Chiara Boschis, although I have no experience with it. Anyway, this is a lovely bottle, but it requires significant air time and appropriate food. Bottle, fill, capsule and cork in excellent condition. "Pigiate a piedi" - grapes crushed by feet! Opened and tasted then decanted immediately about 2.5 hours prior to drinking. Licorice note prominent and very slight maderization initially, but very barnyardy funk dominated. Still smelled a bit like manure 2 hours later, but much better and this eventually dissipated completely. Initially tight and unwound very slowly. Again, a great lesson in the individuality of these old style wines as it constantly changed and improved. Nice array of cinnamon, spices, goudron etc. Vigorous and full bodied. Years of life ahead for well-stored bottles. The last sip was the best, which tells me that this could have stood several hours more in the decanter. Lovely wine from a great master.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
1/25/2008 - Keith Levenberg wrote: 59 Points
Smells terrible, like you just ran over a skunk, backed up, and ground your tires over it a few more times. I did not want to put this in my mouth, but I did. It didn't taste as bad as it smelled, but then, how could it?
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
1/25/2008 - Gregory Dal Piaz wrote: 90 Points
A night of fine wine, food, and company (NYC): This is an entirely different beast and a beast it is. the nose is funky with my first thoughts turning to figs and an old car ashtray. It certainly has alot of stink going on as well but in there one can also find notes of beeswax and pollen, old wood, deep roasted cherry notes and top notes of grapevine smoke. This seems a bit stretched thin on the palate but there is a core of rich red fruits laying deep within. Integrated acidity with ample ripe tannins and a richly terry mid-palate that leads to a bright refeshing finish with notes of dried juniper and clay lingering in the mouth. The wine is almost a bit sticky with it's persistence, good flavor intensity if decidely on the savory side and while I find this a touch dirty it is by no means defective. Tread by foot from vines in S. Lorenzo, Preda, Vignane, and Cannubi.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment