Marcarini Barolo Brunate Dinner at Ciano

Eight of us, 12 wines spanning back to the 1960's, Ciano restaurant in Manhattan. LOTS of fun, and I was very impressed with the wines - the ones that showed well showed very very well - exciting and pungent old wine, nothing like it. I particularly enjoyed the spare sense of the wines, the lack of flourish, the clarity and purity with which they were allowed to speak.

• 1964 Marcarini Barolo Brunate

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  Gorgeous wine, and still has a lot in reserve - the consensus was that the wine is still on the upswing. full and sweet on the nose, floral too, and hints of smoke. The fruit is still bright and very fresh. The palate is complex and with time (6 hour decant, then another half hour in glass) there is a lovely menthol note that emerges and just frames the fruit. This is sweet and tart and perfectly balanced with great intensity and exquisite definition on the finish, which really holds the pungent perfume of the wine for a very long wine after swallowing. Wine of this caliber justifies being in the game, the continual chase.

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• 1967 Marcarini Barolo Brunate Flawed

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  Oxidized and never recovered. Too bad.

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• 1969 Marcarini Barolo Brunate

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  A pleasant surprise for all - this wine was quite good considering the poor reputation of the vintage. Nose is unusual and shows the lean character of the vintage, but though a very animale veil. It is also compelling to me though, with exceptionally clear and unencumbered aromas of game and sweet and sour red cherry. It is more typical on the palate, with good acidity, pungent fruit and gamy flavors and it has a lovely inner mouth perfume that really lingers. The wine may have been from a poor vintage, but it was in great shape. Everyone agreed on this.

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• 1970 Marcarini Barolo Brunate

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  One of the better wines of the evening and a great showing. Nose shows a lot of tar and smoke over surprisingly delicate fruit. it is rich and powerful in the mouth, firmly structured, but retains a delicate feeling. Muscular flavors glide across the palate and the inner mouth perfume is very pretty and it lingers long after swallowing. The sweet and sour finish is just lovely - such sweetness of fruit still on this wine! Delicious expressive, a great drinking experience.

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• 1974 Marcarini Barolo Brunate

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  With the 1964, my favorite wine of the evening. This was arresting in its pure and pungent florality. Roses, fresh and dried, and so pretty, fresh and bright. The palate is very fresh too, great acidity and structure with a compelling and harmonious interplay between flowers and sweet and tart fruit. So very, very long, just fills every cavity of the head with perfume. Decanted for hours, and still going strong 3 hours into the dinner. A treat, and a reminder that the "average" vintages can become very special in time.

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• 1978 Marcarini Barolo Brunate

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  Something was wrong with this bottle, everyone agreed. Some one said it smelled like a can of plum tomatoes, and i think that's right. Too bad...

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• 1982 Marcarini Barolo Brunate

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  Moving this way, after drinking the older wines, it's weird how youthful aspects of this 30 year old Barolo are obvious now. Beautiful fruit here, a lovely floral nose, very alluring. Balanced and complex in the mouth, and the pungent and slightly herbal finish left a perfume that reminded me of the way the older wines feel. Very lovely wine.

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• 1985 Marcarini Barolo Brunate

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  Rich tarry fruit on the nose, which was a bit one dimensional, although. The mouth was more overtly mineral than the other vintages, and still very prominent tannins. This is good wine, but it doesn't hold the same appeal for me as anything else we've had so far (that wasn't flawed, anyway).

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• 1989 Marcarini Barolo Brunate

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  Wow, what a wine. Obviously beautiful, irrepressibly so, even though there are layers and layers of youthful distraction. The fruit is just drop dead gorgeous. There is balance, depth, purity, and structure. This wine waxes, it wanes, it has an inner core of sheer power and beauty. If only I could again every ten years...

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• 1990 Marcarini Barolo Brunate

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  Super rich fruit, some tar, lots of structure, but jutting out a bit. This is open and pleasing wine, and I imagine that if it was the only Marcarini Barolo I drank on this night, I would have liked it more than I did in this context. Here, I found it to be nice, but also a bit obvious and clunky, not a lot of complication, and definitely missing something in the midpalate.

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• 1996 Marcarini Barolo Brunate

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  From magnum. The wood influence can be felt here, although it is essentially neutral - there is vanillin and spice that just doesn't feel like it was originally a part of the wine. Not intrusive just noticeable. In the end, the wine seems very promising, with a prominent smoky character and sweet and sour fruit in the mouth. In character, it makes me thing of the 1970 at 25 years younger.

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• 2007 Marcarini Barolo Brunate

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  Some were flat out dismissing this wine, really denigrating it. I cannot say that it impressed me, but it is not a bad wine. The fruit does feel confected and there doesn;t seem to be a lot of complexity in reserve. Somehow it feels like this wine is as good as it will be - take it on face value. It's not great, but probably will be of interest to fans of the estate.

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