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An Early Look at 2005 Barolo
Tasted January 9, 2010 by drwine2001 with 579 views
Introduction
These bottles were double decanted approximately 2 1/2 hours prior to my tasting them. I was able to assess each wine over an hour in the glass.
Flight 1 (7 notes)
Red
2005 Fratelli Revello Barolo
Aromas of mint and melted licorice. Middle weight. Has a pretty aspect, but in the end, not that interesting and more at the level of generic Nebbiolo than Barolo. Monotone black fruit, tannic, and lacking punch.
Red
2005 Azelia Barolo
Riper nose than the first wine with some evergreen. Medium weight. Lively acidity with some sappy tar underneath. While this does improve, it lacks a little basic sweetness of fruit, and the finish is more stemmy and slightly underripe than fiercely tannic. Hard to see this fleshing out over time.
Red
2005 Fratelli Revello Barolo Vigna Gattera
Dominant note of tar, this shouts Nebbiolo. Light with fruit that sweetens as it sits. Bark and fine tannins, not as much acidity here, but there is an appropriate dose of youthful austerity at the end to accompany the earth and tar in the finish. Really nice Nebbiolo complexity at this early stage, excellent authority for its weight, and quite accessible. Best of the series so far and probably my third pick from the flight.
Red
2005 Renato Corino Barolo Vigneto Rocche
Marked floral notes and high tones differentiate this from the first 3 wines. Light to medium weight. Ah, finally some real sweetness of fruit here. This is alive and interesting because of its strong acids. Lightly tannic with some dryness, but I am not bothered by this. Clearly improves with air. My favorite wine of the tasting for its complexity, depth of flavor, and persistence. Of all the wines, it is easiest to see this one evolving into really ethereal Barolo given where it is starting.
Red
2005 M. Marengo Barolo Brunate
Pungent, brambly nose. Lighter weight. Good intensity of sour cherry fruit, high acidity. More tarry than the Corino and the finish is quite dry. Seems dull and simple after that wine.
Red
2005 Azelia Barolo Bricco Fiasco
Notably deep, full color in this group. Menthol and smoke. Most modern style of any of the wines, with obvious oak and more of a sense of extraction. Round, smooth, plush, and polished with lower acidity than most of these wines. I could discern very little Nebbiolo character here.
Red
2005 Paolo Scavino Barolo Cannubi
Dark fruit, a whiff of incense, and pine needle scents. Good currant fruit and a hint of sweetness. Lower acid and less pungent than others, good length, puckery finish. This also improves and turned out to be my second choice wine, but for half the price, I'd take the Corino any day.
Closing
Well, you know that you've tasted through young Nebbiolo when your gums are screaming for mercy by the end of the tasting, but in all seriousness, this was not as punishing an exercise as tasting other more severely structured vintages. This leads me to conclude that many wines from this year may be approachable somewhat earlier than usual. I'm sorry that I did not taste '04s at a similar stage tso that I could compare the 2 vintages. Several wines are worth buying, but the Corino really stood out to me.