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The Rotating Dinners, I.9: Produttori Normale
Chicago, IL
Tasted April 25, 2017 by acyso with 410 views
Introduction
Bill put together an informative vertical of the Produttori normale. Interestingly enough, this was a dinner that I had set up at the same restaurant two years ago, almost to the day. The wines were opened about an hour or two before service; I think (and I tend to be a pedant about decanting Piedmont for a long time) a few more hours of air would probably have improved many of the showings of these wines.
Flight 1 (10 notes)
White - Sparkling
2009 Marie-Noëlle Ledru Champagne Grand Cru Brut Millésimé
93 points
The nose on this showed a little bit white-grapey. Fresh and bright, the fruit here is very pretty and shows a lot of ripeness. The palate comes off somewhat rustic, with its very coarse bead and fleshy ripe fruit. This is a little sweet on the palate too, but the palate is fairly chalky on the back end. This felt a lot more convincing than the last bottle that I had.
Red
1971 Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco
93 points
My wine of the night. The nose on this was fairly clean, with some subtle florals and some nice red fruit. The palate is quite soft, with tons of acidity, as well as some lively fruit that lends a touch of sweetness. This also has some earthy tones as well, but they are not overwhelming. In an excellent spot right now, but I wouldn't be particularly keen to see where this goes with more time.
Red
1979 Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco
85 points
The nose on this is fairly muddy, especially in comparison to the much cleaner 1971 that I had alongside this. Mostly an amalgamation of earth and acid, the fruit seems to have long since dissipated. Regardless, while this has certainly passed its peak, there are still elements of academic interest here, but in terms of pleasure, that is mostly long gone. Drink up.
Red
1980 Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco
80 points
Stewy and muddy, and significantly marred by tons of volatile acidity. No discernible flaw, this is just what wine that is long past its sell-by date tastes like.
Red
1985 Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco
90 points
This was a fairly uninteresting, but enjoyably sold bottle of the normale. I say uninteresting in that it has all the things that you expect, while nothing in particular stands out. There's a touch of earth and iron, and in a nice contrast to the 1979 and 1980, there's also a fair bit of fruit here. The palate is in fact slightly sweet here, which helps give this more balance.
Red
1991 Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco
85 points
The nose on this was a little bit stewy, and it's clear that this has pushed its age a little too much. Mostly, this tastes like old wine. There's a bit of fruit here still, but the texture on the palate is one where you can feel things starting to thin out.
Red
1989 Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco
88 points
Compared to the 1990, this was a bit more demure and far less volatile, and had a better nose, but the palate was not as convincing. There's a nice earthiness on the nose, but it feels the fruit is somewhat muted here. I get the same impression on the palate as well, and I can't help but think that given this great vintage, that there should be a little bit more from this wine.
Red
1990 Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco
90 points
At the end of the day, even though this bottle seemed to be heavily affected by volatile acidity (which, granted, did seem to blow off with adequate air). Now, if you hold your nose, the palate was very, very good. This had lots of dense black fruit that had very nice interplay with the earthier tones here. But the nose here does this wine in, alas.
Red
1996 Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco Riserva Rio Sordo
93 points
#10776. Served blind (but known to be a Produttori). Between the two blinds, this was definitely the better of the two, in that it had more concentration and density, as well as some sweeter fruit on the palate. I had guessed this was around 15-20 years old, with the eye of including 2000 in the range. Given that this seemed fairly ripe in the context of all the wines tonight, I also guessed that this was a southern cru.
Red
1996 Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco
90 points
Served blind (but known to be Produttori). This was much more earthy and shy, and less fruit-driven than the 1996 Rio Sordo. To me, it seemed clear that this was a lesser wine than the other, though with a bit more air, some more perfume started to emerge. I guessed that based on the relatively lightness of this wine that this was not a southern cru, but also not Asili or Rabaja, since this didn't seem big enough.