1/14/2024 - Robmcl920 Likes this wine:

2010 Barolo Tasting; 1/14/2024-1/15/2024: The ‘10 Rupestris is a mind blowing young wine. In a horizontal of 8 top wines from 2010, the Rupestris was my #2 behind the Monfortino. Like the Monfortino, it perfectly blended a core of sweet, primary fruit with intriguing savory characteristics.

When initially opened, the wine almost seemed a bit suspect, with an intense note of leather coming out of the bottle. The wines were opened at 1:00 in the afternoon and then double decanted, and we tasted through the lineup around 5:00 and drank over dinner. With more air, the Rupestris showed much more primary fruit. The nose was intensely perfumed, with sweet red cherry fruit, leather, iron /blood, and red florals, with a hard candy like sweetness to the red fruit. The combination of that sweet red fruit with the savory leather and blood notes made the wine really intriguing.

On the palate, the Rupestris was medium in body and super finessed, with silky tannins that are well on their way to integrating. Again, there is this mix of super sweet fruit and almost rustic, but in a good way, notes of blood and leather. And while the flavor profile leans a bit rustic in a way, the texture of the wine is world class. Compared to the Monfortino, the Rupestris shows less density of fruit, leaning a bit more savory which probably means it will lose its fruit faster than the Monfortino. It is also simply a less dense wine, which makes it a bit more approachable now but also probably will give the Monfortino an edge in decades.

10/17/2023 - Robmcl920 Likes this wine:

Vinous Piedmont Icons Dinner @ Legacy Records (Legacy Records, NYC): The 2010 Brunate was once again insanely beautiful, while tasting it in the context of the '04 Brunate and a number of other wines showed just how unique and exotic the fruit profile of the wine is.

The nose was intensely perfumed, exotic, and sweet, with dark red, blue, and purple-toned, hard-candy like fruits, balsamic, raw meat, leather, and exotic floral tones. On the palate, the Brunate is an intense wine, with high acidity and a lot of tannin, but the tannins are so finely grained that they melt into the wine. Again, the exotic profile of the fruit and the sweetness of the fruit stands out, with citrus fruit and a spectrum of red, purple, and blue fruit tones sweeping across the palate alongside balsamic and sweet spices. The wine is very primary and should have a long runway for aging ahead of it, but as it's always been in my experience, it is so expressive and enjoyable now. This seems like a wine that has never and presumably will never shut down.

8/17/2023 - connorpksmith Likes this wine:

PnP for 2 hours. Very wound up, and the biting tannins are blocking any depth of fruit I would expect from the BDV. I'm getting a lot more oak in this vintage as well. I had high expectations for the BDV, so I might be being harsh, but overall I'm left a little disappointed. I've popped two bottles of this already in case the first was a dud. I'm hoping this improves more with age and cellaring. 93

6/9/2023 - Gene_Mo wrote:

Popped the cork about 5 hrs early for a little decant. Graphite prevalent but nice fruit. Thats about it. Nice, but I dont expect I will return to this wine.

4/15/2023 - Robmcl920 Likes this wine:

Visit to Giuseppe Rinaldi; 4/13/2023-4/18/2023: Brief tasting at the winery. The ‘19 Brunate was beautiful and as with the other two Barolo, one of the more accessible wines I’ve tasted in 2019, not to say it also doesn’t have the material to age well.

The nose was darker than the Tre Tine but lighter than the Bussia, with dark red to black cherry fruits, menthol, sweet spices, and a touch of balsamic. On the palate, the Brunate is super finessed with minimal perception of tannin, showing the most refined of the three wines. The fruit tones are super sweet, which I almost always find in the rinaldi wines and to me makes them so easy to crave. Alongside dark fruit and sweet spices, I found some herbal tones like mint that I found across the wines.

1/16/2023 - connorpksmith Likes this wine:

Pnp over 2 hours at 2 Amy's Pizzeria. This is still going strong! Wish we gave it a short decant before enjoying. This kept getting better and better as the night went on. The last sip was the best. Still one of the best Barolos from the '16 vintage IMO.

10/23/2022 - connorpksmith Likes this wine:

Enjoyed at a tasting/tour at the Vineyard. Didn't take any detailed notes. Went down smoothly. Very typical notes of a Virginia Bordeaux blend. At $200+ a bottle, this has to be the most overpriced wine I've ever come across. As a huge supporter of Virginia wines, I hope that the wines at the RdV will improve over the next decade, but I'll never be buying any of them personally. 92-93

10/15/2022 - NostraBacchus Likes this wine:

Superb notes of spices, dried flowers, some tobacco, orange zest, violets, deep and layered. Its medium-full bodied, a little bigger than San Lorenzo, has excellent freshness of medium-high acidity and medium-high tannin that is excellent quality. Long finish. This will need quite a few years to be really open but the potential is really great. Also fascinating to drink a purely „Rosé“-clone Barolo.

9/18/2022 - connorpksmith Likes this wine:

Pnp over 2 hours. Did not take enough notes. Fantastic showing from the Vajra '13 BDV. Would love to compare this side by side with the '16 BDV since I think the '16 vintage might be notch better based on my experience so far. This didn't have as much of the floral, bright aromas I would expect from Vajra. Nevertheless, this had a large amount of complexity on the palate with a medium finish. Looking forward to trying another in a few years!

8/30/2022 - connorpksmith Likes this wine:

PnP over 4 hours. Similar to other notes, this did not begin to open until hour 3. Aromas of plums, cranberry, and forest floor. On the palate, there were red fruits and cherries, and the tannins were nice and refined with a smooth level of acidity. Medium-length finish. This is a nice Brunello that I don't think will get much better with age.

5/12/2020 - Tim Heaton Likes this wine:

Tasted side-by-side with the 2011 riserva which has had the benefit of a few years of bottle age, this 2012 is its equivalent today, but by all rights this 2012 will most likely (quickly) pass the '11, before it ultimately ratchets up a half or even full notch. And this is saying a lot, for me, as the 2011 is worth of a highly recommended+ rating already. For fans of this estate, buy early, go deep, it's brilliant, and an exceptional value. Humble, understated elegance, power, and tradition. 15,0% abv. Drink 2022-2036.

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1/21/2022 - Costes76 Likes this wine:

Vertical. More depth and punchier than 16. Softer and more elegant on palate than 16. Medium full body. Fantastic balance. Medium long finish. That bit more self assured than the 17 and 16.

11/14/2021 - connorpksmith Does not like this wine:

I have yet to try a Conti Costanti Brunello that I enjoy. Very disappointed with this as well. Nothing ever came together.

9/27/2021 - connorpksmith Likes this wine:

PnP over pizza dinner out with friends so didn't take notes. The aroma was very subtle, but distinctly Barolo in essence. The palate had notes of dark fruits and tobacco. Overall, very nice ~$50 Barolo. I've been on the hunt to find the best ~$30-$60 Barolo and this is in my top four in that price range!

6/10/2021 - Robmcl920 Likes this wine:

The '16 Rupestris is a dense, classic Barolo that is fairly closed today and in need of cellaring. On the nose, I found an intense aroma of dried red roses, followed in intensity by cool menthol, tar, then sweet red raspberry and cherry fruit. On the palate, the wine showed good textural depth, sweetness, and finesse in the tannin, along with plenty of energy from sharp acidity, but didn't show much in terms of flavor complexity. I found largely pure red raspberry and cherry fruit with a good sweetness, with some fresh herbs and roses. The tannins are finely textured but very intense and will need a lot of time to soften. What really sticks out at this point on the palate is the density, the intense tannins, and the intense acidity.

I largely tasted through the '16s about a year ago and haven't tasted many since, so it's not directly apples to apples, but the '16 Rupestris is one of the more closed off and hard to read wines of the vintage that I've tasted. There is no doubting the intensity and energy of the wine. I'm sure the ultimate potential level of the wine is high, but it's hard to peg where this sits in the vintage pecking order at this stage. Certainly, I wouldn't recommend opening a bottle now for enjoyment.