Ballaro - Highwood IL
Tasted Wednesday, November 9, 2016 by Burgundy Al with 567 views
Great cross-section of Barolo and Barbaresco from Giacosa and Gaja from similar vintages, mostly from the late 1990s, so wines just entering their peak drinking windows.
Enticing spice and floral start. All black fruit, very ripe, very fresh for its age. Long, powerful throughout with a firm finish and a polished, modern style. Very pretty, just not very nuanced. Open 6-7 hours before serving.
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Corked.
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Open and double decanted 7 hours before serving. Red cherry aromas and flavors with wonderful spice throughout. Acid and mineral textures add charm, with very elegant and soft tannins. Very graceful, even if not a powerhouse.
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Only open ~1 hour before serving, which certainly was not enough. Ripe, bold black fruit dominating everything, giving this a somewhat one-dimensional character. But very dense, powerful throughout, with a long finish. While I think this clearly needs more cellar time, I also didn't find it as texturally structured for the very long-term I expect from top Barolo.
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Served blind as a bonus in the flight, but only open/decanted 30 minutes before serving. Dense and dark fruit aromas, but fun and open for business. Nothing brooding here, just great fruit, licorice, black pepper with floral notes. I was able to correctly identify the vintage range, that it was Giacosa (easy since it was clearly not Gaja) and its reserve level. Consistent with prior times tasted. Great now, with decades of good drinking going forward.
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Open 8 hours before being served, during which there was a quick double decant. Red cherry with subtle spice and more earth aromas. Bigger, more alluring flavors with a long and well textured middle through finish. Nicely complex.
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Open 8 hours before serving, during which it got a quick double decant. Big red and black cherry flavors and aromas with good fruit, sweet spice. More fun and powerful than nuanced and textured. Very good now.
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Open 8 hours before serving, during which it got a quick double decant. Dense and inaccessible fruit with the most faint spice. A controversial wine tonight. Some liked it a lot, but a few of us wondered if it was slightly flawed. 89 points for me, while others really enjoyed.
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Beautifully floral with savory spice aromas and plenty of red cherry. Same flavors with excellent nuance. Elegant, long finish. Decanted for 4-5 hours, then returned to bottle, cork re-inserted for the next 8+ hours before serving.
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Very big, ripe and powerful. Dense and meaty with lots of black cherry start-to-finish. Seems fat to start, but acidity and supporting tannic structure emerge nicely middle to long finish. Open and decanted ~3 hours before serving.
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Open and decanted 2-3 hours before serving. Lots of black cherry, certainly very big, but much less of all the supporting material that makes great Barolo. Some people really loved this wine, while some of us found it fun but lacking in charm and nuance.
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Similar to the 1998 Sperss in the next glass -youthful and somewhat monolithic, with hints of great potential. Rich red and black cherry with spice and vanilla. Very powerful and long. Open and decanted 4 hours before serving.
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By far my favorite of the three 1998 Gaja wines in the flight. Spice, licorice, red and black cherry aromas with subtle floral fun. Similar flavors with lots of elegance and textural balance. Less power than the others, but far more charm. Open and decanted almost three hours before serving.
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Dried apricot and honeycomb. Good flavors but this comes across more simply as "sweet" than enticingly flavorful or nuanced.
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From 375 ml bottle. Dried apricot, creme brulee, nicely floral. Charming textures and lots of vibrant acidity. Still just a baby with many decades of improvement going forward.
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A very eccentric wine that I truly enjoy. Figs and dates and roasted almonds with caramelized character and vanilla hints. seemingly weightless for a sweet wine. I find this so unique, charming and attention grabbing, probably liking it more than most people.
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2008 Gaja Langhe Rossj Bass 85 Points
Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Langhe DOC
Intensely floral with new oak aromas and fat fruit. Comes across as so modern and just moderately interesting to me.
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2003 Bruno Giacosa Spumante Extra Brut 87 Points
Italy, Lombardia, Lombardia Spumante
Fully mature and ripe apple with good power and length. Would have been better 3-5 years ago.
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2008 Bruno Giacosa Spumante Rosé Extra Brut 86 Points
Italy, Lombardia, Lombardia Spumante
Fresh apple with some berry hints. Short, pleasant, but rather simple.
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