Community Tasting Note
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Gregory Dal Piaz wrote: 94 points
September 19, 2021 - Closed on the nose, dusty, earthy, some sweet caramel, lots of jammy cherry fruits lurking here. Licorice and a hint of iron. Hint of cinnamon and cardamom spice. Fresh on entry, bright quite vivid with reticent fruit, incipient velvetines, fine tannins drive a long, mineral soaked finish. Not bad even with the cloudy tannins of the dregs of the decanted bottle. Looks promising for tonight. Delicious, right at the cusp of youthful maturity. 93
After 4 hours
Still not there on the nose, a bit on the modest side revealing dusty clay, crushed raspberry, peppery green spice and incipient notes of tobacco and leather. Opening up in the mouth, lively, lovely red fruit, long and driven, dusty white earth laced throughout, Delicate and refined, such a lovely wine with super fine grained tannins lending grip from start to finish. I should have headed my own note and kept my hands off for at least another year, but today I would say another 3 are in order.876 views
4 Comments
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glou.sf commented:
9/19/22, 1:13 PM - What makes you think an extra year will make any difference on a 26 year old wine that seems shut down?
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Gregory Dal Piaz commented:
9/19/22, 2:59 PM - A bit of experience. This wine will be wide open at one point, 26 years is a very long time to wait, but 96 is stubborn like that. Optimism. I am looking forward to experiencing all this has to offer.
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glou.sf commented:
9/19/22, 3:04 PM - My point is that one extra year for a wine that is closed today and has been 3 years ago (according to your note) should not be expected to suddenly open up with another year of bottle age. I'd be careful saying "wait another year" when in reality you should probably wait 5-10+ years given your two tasting notes.
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Gregory Dal Piaz commented:
9/20/22, 8:57 AM - One of the issues I have found with many 1996 Barolo is their tendency to lose aromatic freshness before the structure has fully released. Based on this, and the relative state of evolution of the rest of Vietti's 1996 line-up i prefer to err on the side of caution here. My note refers to one year from my previous suggestion for retrial, and then offers up 3 years as a current suggestion. I have a case left, if I sacrifice 2 bottles and open them "too soon", which of course is relative, that should put me in good stead regarding the consumption of the remaining bottles.