2011 La Spinetta (Rivetti) Monferrato Pin

Community Tasting Notes (5) Median Score: 90 points

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  1/20/2018 - ChopperWine Likes this wine: 90 Points

  Lovely dark ruby in color. Welcoming from the start. On the nose one could smell ripe black fruit, berry, some chocolate and oak to be sure. Then the taste... full bodied, raspberry, stone fruit, blueberry, cherry, spices, tobacco and herbs with some subtle leather. Great mouth feel with nice acidity and terroir. Nice finish. Overall lovely. A more sophisticated La Spinetta Cà di Pian - less fruit, more earth.

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  12/5/2015 - smphelps wrote: 89 Points

  Ruby. Quite firm and tight. Lots of stems, wood, moss, cedar, pepper, with the fruit being pretty reserved. Interesting wine, not an ordinary offering, but something that elicits wide ranging views. From the list, Otto, NYC.

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  4/24/2015 - forceberry wrote: 73 Points

  A blend of Nebbiolo from the Barbaresco Bordini vineyard (65%) and Barbera from 80 yo vines from the Bionzo vineyard (35%). Aged for 16-18 months in new French barriques, blended and aged for 2 months in stainless steel and then aged for further 15 months in bottles.
  
  Dark raspberry color with a deep, almost black core and rather thin, pale red rims. Very sweet and dark-toned nose with aromas of sweet oaky wood, vanilla, licorice, some cherry marmalade, a little milk chocolate and a hint of brambly fruit. Full-bodied, soft and sweet palate with brooding flavors of dark chocolate, licorice, cherry jam, vanilla, chocolate milkshake, mocha, some dark cherry and a little plummy fruit. Quite modest tannins give the wine a little firmness structure, whereas the rather low acidity gives it none. Though the wine is quite young with a decent amount of tannic Nebbiolo and some Barbera normally high in acids, it is surprisingly flabby and dull. The finish is very long, modestly warm and dominated by sweet oaky flavors of chocolate, mocha, vanilla and a hint of caramel. The tannins become more pronounced after the sweet body recedes from the palate, giving the aftertaste a little bit of grip and astringency.
  
  I have no idea why people are raving about La Spinetta wines and Pin Monderrato especially - this is one of the most boring and uncharacterful red wines I've had in a while. All the possible quality fruit and typicity of the grapes is drencehd in new wood, the hang time is obviously very long for a Piedmontese red resulting in dull, low-acid wine and the maceration times are so short that the Nebbiolo grapes fail to give the wine any good sense of tannic structure. I could see a Californian winemaker doing this kind of wine in an attempt to create an Italian wine in Napa Valley, but it is a travesty that some producers are making wines like these in the heart of Piedmont. Really cringy stuff. A ripoff at 28,50€.

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  2/3/2015 - aChave wrote: 90 Points

  Dark ruby. Deep, dark fruit with strong fruit character. Tannins are hidden but present. Reticent, not showing its full potential at this point in time. Keep. Tasted with Giorgio Rivetti.

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  1/9/2015 - Mostholy Likes this wine: 90 Points

  Very good wine. It's a bit tannic. I ran it through a venturi to help get some oxygen into it. It has a very complex taste. Oak with leather and a dark fruit hint. You should give it a shot.

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