Last Thursday tasting group: Pre-2001 Barolo

The first meeting of a group of wine geeks at Willamette Wine storage attempting to put together a more focused event with higher quality wines. I hadn't had many Barolos up until this point so this event was a must-do for me. The wines were all of very high caliber tonight, and once done I really think I have a sense of what Barolo is, and it is delicious.

• 1997 Giacomo Borgogno & Figli Barolo Riserva Classico 90 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  Smells fantastic, sweet cherries, ash, cement, sweet graphite. Very nice to just sit and smell. The palate immediately shows a large masculine structure with boat loads of acidity. Musty dark cherries, ash, charcoal, and old leaves showed through on the palate. The finish lingers for a very long time with an equal amount of fruit and structure. I've been loving acidic wines lately but this one really has to much for my palate. The fruit here is delicious but the structure was overwhelming. Still a baby, let it ride. 90+

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• 1997 Marcarini Barolo La Serra 92 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  Smells like what I would imagine a mound of burning newspaper, roses, cherries and pencils would smell like. Nice depth on the nose. The palate starts with sour cherries, some cranberry, tomato soup, graphite and charcoal. Feminine in it's approach, the palate is balanced to the structure that resolves nicely on the finish. The tannins are sweet and dusty with a still healthy but balanced dose of acidity. The length in the finish is again superb, a very, very good wine overall.

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• 1997 Cabutto Barolo Tenuta La Volta Vigna La Volta 93 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  Wow, smells like a cherry pie with dirty graphite and acidity that can be felt when smelling the wine. The palate shows medium weight with a zippy acidity throughout. Tannins are VERY sweet and ripe and that sweetness lingers for a LONG time. Stewed cherries, tomato, soil, pencil shavings. The structure here is firm but gentle in its approach. The finish goes for nearly a minute. Maybe not the most balanced wine of the night but the sum of the components here equal a great wine. My WOTN.

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• 1996 Domenico Clerico Barolo Ciabot Mentin Ginestra 90 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  Smells like spoiled milk, dirty dark cherries, graphite and earth. The spoiled milk thing wasn't immediately evident, once someone pointed it out it was almost all I smelled. Weird but interesting at the same time. The palate is dirty cherries and an ashtray, lots of ash. Very firm structure here with dusty sweet tannins, sharp acidity and a very long length finish. The palate here is fairly straight forward. This is way to young, the structure drowns out a lot of the other components. Let this baby sleep!

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• 1996 Luigi Pira Barolo 91 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  The acidity zings immediately on the nose, once felt cherries, graphite and even some whipping cream show. Slightly rich smelling, very delicious. The palate shows chalky cherries, ashes, gravel and grape stems. The acidity sings right off the bat but resolves quickly and leaves the flavors fully intact to linger through the long length finish. The finish lingers for quite a long time, this is a fine example of a nice Barolo that is just starting to hit it's stride in my opinion.

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• 1999 Prunotto Barolo 88 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  Dark fruit profile on the nose, reduced cherries, coffee, chocolate, pie crust. Comparatively it doesn't smell like the other wines. Big feel in the mouth, balanced firm structure to the big fruit attack on the palate, mostly all fruit with very, very little of the typical graphite flavors you typically see. Unlike the other wines, very modern, and very basic on the palate. A nice wine for sure, well built, just overshadowed by the company.

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• 2000 Marziano Abbona Barolo Pressenda 88 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  Rich nose of stewed dark red cherries, loads of graphite/pencil lead. Smells fantastic. The palate is bold, big red cherries, rosemary, very light graphite and tobacco in the background. Very modern. Medium tannin with a ton of acidity. The fruit outlasts the structure on the finish but has no evolution or wow factor. Overall a fairly basic wine compared to the company tonight.

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• 2001 Michele Chiarlo Barolo Cerequio 88 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  I didn't spend much time on this wine, no notes from the nose. The palate shows very bright young red cherries, very bright. These cherries are slightly sour and slightly candied. Mostly all sweet fruit, lighter structure, and pretty basic flavor-wise. Still, this is a very delicious, well built wine, but considering the company it just isn't on the same level.

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• 2004 Marcarini Barolo Brunate

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  No score for this one, at the end of the night when I finally made it to this wine the structure was so strong it was hard to taste anything behind it. The nose shows bright cherries, chocolate and pie crust. On the palate the structure is MASSIVE, I was able to eat a large truffle and this wine was easily able to cut that richness on my palate if that gives you an idea of the amount of acidity this was rolling with. Some beautiful red fruit is back there but was completely overshadowed by structure. Age this baby for a long, long time.

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Thanks to Mark for lining everything up! Thanks to Andres and Tashena for the food, which was absolutely amazing. And thanks to everyone else for attending, I look forward to the next event!