Better than everyday Arneis - the crunchy and angular texture nicely complements its brightness and purity.

A higher fill and a darker color than my last bottle, but a more diffuse presence. Sometimes you just never know. Still a beauty and incredibly supple in texture, which some strange flavors like melon and mint and antique wood.

Lots more going on here than the Monsecco. The first sip smacks you with tar and orange peel and prepares you for something gritty, but actually it's remarkably suave. A complex, layered presence and finish with tobacco and lavendar. A Gattinara to educate the non-believers and better than most of the Baroli today.

Similar profile to the last one but put together a little better. Again, it starts out with an offputting oxidized scent that takes a little while to vanish. Richly fruited but incredibly supple, about as pampering as nebbiolo gets.

Young and primary. Deep concentation of fruit marked by oak. One presumes they used the barriques to give it some modern polish. But compare it to the traditionally made '90 Scarpa next to it. That wine is the essence of polish, while this is rough and rustic in texture. Isn't it ironic?

Everything that a Barolo should be and aspires to be. As mouthfilling as a Grand Cru Burgundy but spackled from top to bottom with Barolo tar. So much presence here that it doesn't even matter that there's still a whole lot of tannin.

Much better than my last taste of this wine. Doesn't smell like anything, but has a grand sense of dimension on the palate; this wine is built in veritable tiers. Quite tannic, but there's almost a maple-syrup sweetness to it which helps it go down easy. Elegant, sappy, and deliciously fruitless.

Like the Giacosa, this has a sweet core with almost a maple-syrup thing that makes it easier to drink than the tannin level should allow.

Benefited much from the extra four years of bottle age it has over the 1989. Much more piercing in its fruit presence with an almost bloody salinity.

Over-the-top V.A. contamination. Smells like paint thinner. Ick!

Bad.

Probably the wine of the night today in terms of catching it at exactly the right moment, the structure and material in perfect balance. Rich and intense, but supple.