2004 Barolo

• 2004 Azelia Barolo

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  Medium ruby. Pungent, licorice aromatics. Medium weight, high acid, astringent finish. While this improves a bit, it just lacks fruit and has mouth parching dryness. Poor for a generic Nebbiolo much less Barolo.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

• 2004 Comm. G.B. Burlotto Barolo Monvigliero

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  Lighter with earthy tones and ultimately, some frank brett. Light weight and soil comes through on the palate as well. Again, the fruit is not obvious, but the structure is a bit more covered with sap and flesh than the village Azelia. Some green on the finish. Unimpressive and I wouldn't dream of paying $75 for this.

  Post a Comment / 1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No

• 2004 Mauro Molino Barolo Vigna Conca

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  Medium color. Nose dominated by pine and other green notes rather than fruit. This is the first wine in the series that shows some sweetness of fruit. Good texture and length, complex, balanced, and fine. Enough structure to give it form without being harsh. Not too big as some of the later wines were. I liked this a lot and would probably rank it second of the six wines tasted.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

• 2004 Azelia Barolo Bricco Fiasco

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  Deep color. Very different style from the preceding wine; very ripe fruit and anise on the nose. Round, rich black cherry and even some fig on a woody base. Deficient in grip and focus despite creosote and tannins at the end. Sorry, this is too big and blurry for me to understand in Nebbiolo terms. None of the great Barolo I've had has possessed this unnatural degree of overripeness and fruitiness. Pass, especially at this lofty price.

  Post a Comment / 1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No

• 2004 Elio Altare Barolo

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  Dark ruby, chocolatey aromatics with some uplifting herbal perfume. Again, very big, rich wine like the Azelia Bricco Fiasco, but there is more to this one than just the fruit. Sweet and spicy, but this has an excellent core of acidity which gives it verve, lingering licorice complexity mixed in with substantial tannins, and a very long finish. It is so approachable now that I can't see it being a 30 year Barolo, and if I owned it, I'd aim to drink it earlier.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

• 2004 E. Pira & Figli (Chiara Boschis) Barolo Cannubi

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  Medium ruby and much less dense nose than either of 2 heavyweight wines. This was misplaced in the line up since here, we are back to a more classic, less fruity, delicate, and almost weightless impression. Gorgeous perfume (the only wine with floral tones, in fact), cranberry acidity, and fine dry tannins. I finally got the proper pucker that I am used to with young Barolo. Nice soil on the finish. Not the biggest or richest wine by a long shot, but my favorite, and one that I can see aging slowly and magnificently.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No

Something for everyone in this group, ranging from old style, fruitless wine to overwhelmingly ripe examples that were hardly recognizable as Nebbiolo. For my taste, the best wines were somewhere in the middle, and they retained a sense of subtlety, restraint, and lightness.