Community Tasting Note
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David Paris (dbp) wrote: 91 points
May 16, 2015 - It is true that with the clues on the label a resourceful person can fairly easily, with near certainty, determine what this wine is. Multiple clues indeed lead to only one such wine. I had a fun hour researching and following leads to determine what the wine is, so I won't ruin the fun for everyone else who's interested in the exploration. :-) Indeed, current Wine-Searcher Pro shows said wine available for $65-80 in the US (30€ in Germany). On first blush, I am pleased with the "value" proposition (as I figured I would be). The winery in question does fairly short fermentations and uses all new oak barrique (as of 2008 vintage) for this wine, though, which is something I avoid like the plague, especially in Barolo.
So... how does it taste? I picked these up one week ago to the day, so I usually like to let things settle a bit longer than that before diving in, but I just can't wait. And honestly, originally on a pop and pour I wrote a fairly long, fairly disparaging note about this wine... instead of leaving it and posting my note "with time," let me just say do not pop and pour this wine. It tastes every bit its modern self and to me wasn't showing typicity, any sense of place, and tasted like an over oaked Pinot Noir. I was confused. It drank this way for hours, but after about 5 hours it started becoming much more typical. Roughly 20 hours with the bottle open to air, it began showing itself more enjoyable. So, decant this wine for a long time if you're going to drink it now.
Note at 20 hours open: The color is very much on the lighter side, nearly translucent. Some pleasing graphite note pokes through cherry tones (with other red fruit) and cola, including a slight floral inflection. Initial palate attack is quite tight and lean, showing some tart red fruits (cherry cola again) and lean, fine grained tannins begin dominating coupled with light bits of graphite. It's fleshy on the palate, light to medium in weight, showing silky texture for a young Barolo, and with additional time, offering more pleasing fruit integrated with that lean, acidic profile. Finish is lean, showing plenty of vibrant acidity and tart, slightly under-ripe berries. The lingering notes are quite nice and the wine stays on the palate for minutes, with very pleasing fine grained tannins hanging around. I will be very curious to see how these evolve, but this is probably a wine to drink over the short term (for Barolo), say 15 years or so. The modern profile has me worried, but this did come around quite a bit after time open. With proper decant time, it is approachable and enjoyable at this phase.7 people found this helpful 4,206 views
2 Comments
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arthrovine commented:
5/18/15, 5:57 AM - Wow. Thanks for the note.
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Sheila62 commented:
5/18/15, 2:04 PM - Please help me out here? who is the producer?