Barely mature Nebbiolo at Simon’s

Brilliant evening, so kindly hosted by Simon who excelled himself. Delicious food and miraculously spritely wines which opened my eyes a bit to the reliability of very old Nebbiolo having always considered it a bit of a crapshoot beforehand: 4/5 of the Nebbiolos were in great condition - and the fifth was really pretty good too!

• 1964 Prunotto Barbaresco Riserva 94 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco

  Caffe Torino labelling - and labelled as bottle no. 18 produced, which is fun. Lovely nose - pretty distinct orange zest and a real sense of sweetness coming from that. Though also a little bit sweaty, with some funkiness. Delicate palate; lovely (and genuinely pretty fresh!) sour red fruit. Acidity pretty strong, but absolutely supported and balanced out but that strong fruit core. Fully mature, obviously, but I’m a great place right now even if perhaps not the most concentrated.

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• 1974 Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco 94 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco

  Amazingly youthful colour: garneting but a genuinely ruby core. Emphatic fresh raspberries on the nose - super pure fruited, pretty miraculously. Still some stringy tannins and prominent acidity: largely speaking the palate is pretty sour-fruited. Anything but over the hill. Just really spectacularly young and surprisingly powerful for 51 years old. 94+(!)

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• 1978 Fontanafredda Barolo La Bianca 87 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  Pretty browned throughout. Whiff of VA on the nose; not much discernible fruit. Palate follows suit; for me this is just quite far down its oxidative journey and has been pretty much stripped of its fruit. Despite that it’s perfectly pleasant - far from dead - but passed its assumed best for me. Others around the table liked this much more than I did, interestingly.

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• 1982 Marchesi di Barolo Barolo Coste di Rose 93 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  Bottle no. 2817. Good colour - browning but still clinging on to a garnet core. Unusual nose: *really* sweaty and not at all that pleasant. Palate is a different story altogether though: real sense of fruit, on the ripe/stewed strawberry spectrum: perceptible acidity is relatively moderate and there’s a real sense of sweet ripe red fruit. Tannins certainly present, albeit pretty resolved. This is lovely, though gets better if you hold your nose!

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• 1982 Marchesi di Barolo Barolo Sarmassa 95 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  Selected (and labelled accordingly) in 1987 by the Cavalieri del Tartufo as one of their top 1982s. Browning rim but very dark in the glass. Pretty delineated raspberries on the nose, with some herbal elements. Amazingly youthful palate: super grippy tannins, matched with some reasonably ripe red fruit. The fact that this is 40 years old is incredible. So impressive.

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• 2016 Pietro Zardini Recioto della Valpolicella Pietro Junior 95 Points

  Italy, Veneto, Valpolicella, Recioto della Valpolicella

  Served chilled. Paired brilliantly with panna cotta and berry compote. Aged entirely in amphorae (apparently); the first release ever to be so. 2000 bottles produced. Super fresh; real purity of sweet blackberries and hedgerow fruit. Tastes anything but dried/stewed - would have never guessed that this came from dried grapes. Delicious and (for me) a real revelation.

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