1978 Piemonte Dinner Showcasing Produttori Crus

Jamie Wolff came through town, generously bringing along a posse of 1978 Nebbiolos. My gratitude to him and others for their generosity, and to the organizer of this amazing opportunity to taste through a 40 year old horizontal range of Produttori wines and other gems.

• NV Jacques Selosse Initial

  France, Champagne, Champagne Grand Cru

  Disgorged late 2013. Full yellow, still good bead. Full bodied. Caramel and apple, dry back end with excellent stoniness. This has about as much of the oxidative quality as I find appealing and tolerable in Initial.

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• 1978 Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco

  Healthy color. Funky, minty nose with a touch or rubber and more noticeable VA as it sat out. High acidity, dry, and full of soil. It did sweeten and show a little fruit, but not a great normale.

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• 1978 Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco Riserva Asili

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco

  Ruby. Immediately riper aromas than the normale with prominent cherry and warm earth. Wonderful mix of soil, spice, and gently sweet red fruit with some mint entering later. At a perfect point of maturity with silky feel and outstanding length. I could still see this developing further with more tertiary notes.

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• 1978 Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco Riserva Ovello

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco

  Piercing menthol aromas accompanied by some mustiness and VA. Weightier than the Asili, mushrooms, faded fruit, bitter finish. Certainly not a pristine bottle.

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• 1978 Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco Riserva Montefico

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco

  Ruby. Odd nose of both candied fruit and some green stalkiness. Delicate, lovely red fruit with a citric lift, perfect acidity, grainier, less harmonious feel than the Asili. Some tar on the finish. I was impressed with how this improved and the fruit freshened with more air. Despite the strange nose, I liked this quite a bit.

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• 1978 Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco Riserva Rabajà

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco

  Surprisingly deep color. Gorgeous, penetrating mint aromatics. Medium weight, great feel with an underpinning of soil throughout, not quite as much acidity as some of the others. This kept expanding and sweetening, showing great spice and again, a drop of citrus rind. Just a beauty, and the strength of the fruit suggests the potential for another decade of refinement and development.

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• 1978 Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco Riserva Moccagatta

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco

  Light ruby. Tar, slight funkiness, and rising menthol. The slight off components in the nose do not come through on the palate. Light, lovely, well balanced with bitter cherry, truffle, balsamic, and a great, soil-filled finish. One of the best fruit/soil juxtapositions of the night, and it really came on in the glass. If we had more time to sit with it, I wonder if it would have overtaken some of the more high end crus.

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• 1978 Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco Riserva Montestefano

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco

  Light ruby. Classic Nebbiolo scents of tar. Medium weight, quite sappy. Great volume, seamless feel, beautiful balance of discretely sweet fruit and tar, excellent length. One of the more powerful wines in the line up if less complex and detailed than a few of the others. No complaints, though-a pleasure to drink.

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• 1978 Francesco Rinaldi e Figli Barolo

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  Pale color. Fine aromas of faded strawberry and roses. Light weight, delicate weight, perfectly ripe, red fruit, elegant, long, and earthy. Yes, there was some VA, but just enough to add to the perfume rather than detract. After the Produttori wines, this was really the first bottle to show the ethereal side of fully mature Nebbiolo. It faded quickly, so not a wine to be held, but gorgeous initial showing.

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• 1978 Cordero di Montezemolo Barolo Monfalletto Flawed

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  Ruby. Very funky, overwhelming VA. I thought it was corked, others disagreed. At any rate, undrinkable.

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• 1978 Cappellano Barolo

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  Freakishly deep ruby for a 40 year Nebbiolo. Wow, there is tar, and then there is this, which smells like the La Brea tar pits! Sappy, round, tannic, full of soil and mint, tannic finish. Old school, all terroir. A wine in which you feel more than taste the fruit. There's so much to it, though, that I suppose it could go on for another 20 years.

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• 1970 Cavallotto Barolo Bricco Boschis

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  Ruby without fading. Wonderful nose of spice, tar, and earth. Big, earthy wine with tar, robust ripe fruit, a blood orange note, high acidity, and remaining round tannins. Tremendously lively for its age, although some VA began to show at the end. Loved this bottle!

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• 1964 Giuseppe E Figlio Mascarello Barolo

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  Medium red. Lots of VA and stemminess on the nose. This caused me some trepidation, but in the mouth, another amazing mature Nebbiolo-lively cherry and strawberry, enlivening rather than tart acidity, lingering soil on the finish, and a good dose of asphalt as well. Somewhat faded for sure and at the end of its life, but it held up remarkably well in the glass and provided another mouthful of aged Piemontese joy.

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• 1999 Giuseppe Rinaldi Barolo Brunate Le Coste

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  Like a sledgehammer after the older wines. Whoa-dark, powerful, sweet black fruit, and tar. Positively simple right now, but incredible material-just 30 years too young. As I sipped this, I wondered if this was what it was like to taste '47 Cheval Blanc at a similarly embryonic stage. To those that will get to try this wine when (and if) it is mature, I can only tip my hat and tell you how jealous I am.

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• 1970 Ezio Voyat Chambave Passito

  Italy, Valle d'Aosta, Chambave

  And to finish this unbelievable evening, we had this oddity (a 48 year old Moscato) with the cheese. Deep amber/crank oil color. Wild, woody, and nutty with high VA and figgy fruit.

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