Community Tasting Note
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Robmcl920 Likes this wine: 96 points
October 9, 2020 - The '16 BdV is an insanely beautiful wine. The expressive, sweet aromatics make a strong first impression. On the nose, I found sweet, almost candied red cherry and purple-toned fruits, intense red floral aromas, licorice, menthol, and sweet spices, all woven together beautifully. Everything was in balance, and cool in tone, but explosive and sweet in a way few wines are especially at this age. On the palate, the wine is similarly explosive and concentrated, but with incredible finesse. I sense there is a lot of tannic heft, but it's buried under the fruit. There is a wave of dark red fruit, lavender, licorice, menthol, and spices, with a striking inner sweetness to the fruit. The finish is long, with red fruit and spices. It's concentrated yet light on its feet.
As an aside on tannins - it's remarkable how much progress appears to have been made at Vajra and other wineries in the past decade. I tasted the '05 BdV last night and the '07 BdV a few weeks ago. The '05 has fine-grained tannins but they are very noticeable, and I found the '07 to remain very tannic - the '16 BdV, at four years of age, is much more refined and smooth on the palate than either of those two vintages. The vintage plays a role here - the '08 is more finessed than '05 or '07 for example - but there's clearly been an upgrade in tannin management in my view.
Anyway, the '16 BdV is remarkable. It's one of the top few wines I've tasted from the vintage. Scored a 96, but closer to the 2016 Barolos I've rated a 97 (i.e. Bartolo, Burlotto Monvigliero) than most I've given a 96 to (i.e. Elio Grasso, Sandrone Le Vigne) in my view - if only there were more points in the scale.16 people found this helpful 9,148 views
7 Comments
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SARED commented:
10/9/20, 7:32 PM - Haven't opened a BdV, but wonder if the BdV and Grassos will be QPR winners of the vintage at $75-80 per.
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Robmcl920 commented:
10/10/20, 5:04 AM - Thus far I think so. I have the Vajra Ravera and Fratelli Alessandria single vineyards lined up to taste next, I could see those being contenders as well.
If including Barbaresco, my hunch is the best Produttori single vineyards ie Rabaja may be competitive for best wine in this price range in 2016 - Rabaja certainly was in 2013 in my opinion - but I don’t know of anyone having reported tasted those wines yet. -
pods commented:
12/29/20, 10:25 PM - Hi Rob, appreciate your insightful feedback. In your opinion would you say Vajra, Vietti, Sandrone, Roagna, Grasso, Produttori (riserva) and burlotto are peers (ie comparable in quality) to rinaldi, g.conterno and Bartolo irrespective of vintage or price (qpr)? Thank you
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Robmcl920 commented:
12/30/20, 6:35 AM - Hey - your list of producers is pretty wide, but in short I think in some of those cases it’s getting closer in terms of quality, but I think the best examples of wines from Conterno (Monfortino), Rinaldi Brunate, and Bartolo are still on a higher level. And style is often completely different.
Roagna I have very little experience with - none with their higher end bottlings. So I can’t comment. I had the ‘13 Pira this year and it was good but very unique.
Sandrone I also have somewhat limited experience with - I’ve liked the 2016, 2013 le vigne a lot. The older Le Vigne I’ve had have some more oak and I didn’t like as much. The 2013 Talin I tried I did not like. I think they make some great wines but still may make some questionable, more overtly modern decisions in some cases (not so much oak, more in the concentration level of the wine).
Produttori - the 2013 Rabaja is the only wine I’ve had that is at that high of a level. Many of the other bottlings and vintages are very good wines, but haven’t struck me as elite. Sounds like the 2016s may be even better than the 2013s but I haven’t tasted them yet. Anyway, with produttori I don’t think on average the riservas are close in quality to the likes of Conterno - but the Rabaja, past few years, may be getting there. Maybe in ‘16 other crus too - tbd.
Grasso - I like their wines a lot, loved the 16s, I don’t think they are quite at the elite level but very solid in tier 2 if you will. They are #2 in my cellar by quantity but that factors in price.
Vajra - I think they are the closest to being a peer, in terms of the bricco delle Viole bottling (they make a lot of wines, most of which are good but not in this conversation other than maybe the Ravera). The 2008, 2010, 2013, and 2016 BdV i think are some of the better wines of those vintages, price aside. The 2016 is insanely beautiful. These wines have the sweetness and complexity of fruit of the best wines I’ve had. Whether they will age to acquire the same tertiary complexity that Conterno, Rinaldi, Bartolo have proven they can achieve is another matter however. The older BdV I’ve had are good wines but not elite.
This all said, there is nothing I’ve had that compares to the best vintages of Monfortino - 2010, 2004 in recent years in my opinion - or Rinaldi Brunate (2010, 2006, 1999 have most impressed me) - or Bartolo (2010 being most impressive). I think the best wines from those three producers are on a different level. The best older vintages from Giacosa are also on another level. In particular, the density of the Monfortino suggests an aging potential more than any other Barolo I’ve had. But in vintages where they don’t do as well, you can certainly get an equal or better wine from the producers you mentioned. For example, in 2016 I’d say the Vajra BdV is at the same level or a touch better than the Conterno Francia. I think the Vajra BdV is better than the Rinaldi Tre Tine in 2016 too. -
Robmcl920 commented:
12/30/20, 6:44 AM - Sorry I missed two producers you mentioned - Burlotto, Vietti.
Burlotto I think is so unique that it can’t be compared to a producer like Conterno or bartolo. The Burlotto Monvigliero in the past few vintages (I don’t have experience older) is an incredibly beautiful wine, so uniquely performed with very interesting fruit tones, savory olive etc. So weightless on the palate. I like having them for the uniqueness. I don’t consider them peers less because of the quality being lower, more so because I don’t consider them substitutes.
Vietti - I have most experience with the Rocche, and I think it is one of the elite wines of Barolo. So I consider that wine a peer. I don’t have enough experience across vintages with the other wines. I like, but haven’t been as smitten as the professionals, by the Ravera. To me the Rocche perfectly combines complexity, power, and elegance in the way the best wines do. And while historically it had oak, tasting back through the 2007 vintage recently I have not noticed any. An ‘89 Rocche earlier this year was incredible, so the wines have proven potential to age. -
pods commented:
12/30/20, 5:16 PM - Dear Rob, thank you again for taking time to share your thoughts. I closely follow your reviews & comments along with a few others. So appreciate your detailed comments. I’ve only had g.conterno a few times, that is not enough to form an opinion on monfortino or francia. Bartolo has impressed me every single time I have had them. Rinaldi and Aldo (not tried the 10s) while superlative and have more than impressed me, they have not moved me in the same way as Bartolo has.
These are the 3 elite producers (tho I understand Aldo is polarizinig) I’ve had the most exposure to.
But the prices for rinaldi, Bartolo and g conterno are getting out of hand, and while I am open to contemplating paying market price for Bartolo, not sure about the rest. Sandrone and grasso I have had little experience, but cannot say I was blown away the few times I had them (13 vintage).
In a great vintage like 16, it seems the likes of vajra, potentially produttori (based on the base barbaresco), sandrone (Monica Lener’s review on le Vigne was something!), grasso, brovia, chiara Boschis etc have produced nebbiolos of comparable quality of the elite in good vintages (12, 15 etc) for fraction of the price of bartolo etc. And as you point out some seem to have edged out/matched the greats in some areas in this vintage (tre tine & vajra bdv). So I’m going full tilt on these and base Barolo (burlotto, vietti etc.). I need to pay attention to vietti cru more too, and Roagna. Cappellano I guess is in the realm of elites, but I do not have much exposure. Sandri is a great qpr play. -
pods commented:
12/30/20, 6:16 PM - *I must add a lot of this is based on reading the notes & feedback of critics and Piemonte fans. Need to see how these bottles align with my palette and age. Fortunately, there still seems to be relatively reasonably priced Bartolo & rinaldi to be had outside the rockstar vintages and plenty of the 16 vintage bottles of many of the producers from the next rung to be purchased at a reasonable price.