September 20, 2023 - Drank over an evening. Moderate bricking.
Typical and compelling at all phases. The wine shows considerable secondary notes, on the bouquet and palate. At once delicate and powerful. The middle to back transition and the finish feature appealing range and nuance.
Still quite tannic. Recommend holding bottles for three to five years. Interesting, satisfying. Improvement seems possible.
April 30, 2023 - What a fascinating wine. While at the beginning of its life span, it was super perfumed, showing sweet red berries, a lot of sex appeal (for lack of a better word) it has now become a little more tamed, austere, but also very classic. There is still plenty of red berries, some mint, flowery notes, but there is also Rabajà minerality coming through with some notes of graphite/tar, and some tobacco. Overall a little bit darker than it used to be. Medium bodied, with medium tannin that has melted away and some nice medium-high acidity adding freshness. Good length. A lovely wine.
September 1, 2022 - Silky plum and cherry and long finish
July 22, 2022 - This bottle seemed to be a bit oxidized. So, maybe a flawed bottle, and I will give no rating.
June 9, 2022 - Classic barbaresco. Improved with breathing, as one would expect.
May 4, 2022 - Medium reddish ruby in color with slight clearing at the edges. Full, forward & attractive nose of ripe fruit aromas of cherries, strawberries & plums with overtones of earthy/dusty & rose petal notes, herbs, spices, minerals, tobacco, anise, some tar notes & a hint of cedar in the background. Medium-deep bodied with a very good concentration of balanced & smooth textured, ripe fruit flavors of cherries, tart cranberries & strawberries with herbs, spices, minerals & oak. Lingering finish. Drinks quite well at present with decanting & extended airing. Even at 12 years of age, it still has the structure and fruit to continue with additional aging.
March 6, 2022 - Braucht noch etwas Luft. Feine, ganz zurückhaltende Nase von roter Kirsche, Wald-Erdbeeren, Rosenblättern und ein wenig schwarzem Tee, leichte Vanille-Note vom Holz. Am Gaumen leicht und tänzerisch mit einer fast schon burgundischen Eleganz. Prägnante Säure, feines, aber dafür intensives rotbeeriges Fruchtextrakt, mineralisch, subtile kräuterige Würze, noch präsentes und ganz leicht trocknendes Tannin, hält lange nach. Ein kompletter Wein, den ich derart klar, präzise und transparent im Piemont sonst nur von Rinaldi (G., nicht F.) kenne. Für die 24 EUR, die ich damals bezahlt habe, ein absurd guter Wert. Hätte ich mir den Keller mit voll legen sollen... Dürfte in den nächsten 2-3 Jahren im Trinkfenster sein, 14% Alkohol.
November 27, 2021 - Excellent Barbaresco for the price of $40 I paid 7 1/2 years ago.
November 19, 2021 - French and Italian Comparative Tasting Dinner (Middletown Township, NJ, USA): Decanted at 11am, given 2-3 hours in the decanter then returned to bottle for transport to the tasting event. Color is a bright slightly translucent garnet. This bottle was just not quite what the previous bottle was….really excellent but missing the beautiful depth of aromatics and lift in the previous bottle. Still a wonderful Barbaresco. Classic in most respects with rose petals, cherry fruit, a hint of licorice and good structure. Just a notch less special in my view. Curiously half the group preferred this bottle to the remaining amount I brought and decanted from the previously Coravined bottle. This was just about everyone’s favorite with the classic Piedmontese Plin pairing and the majority’s wine of the night.
October 30, 2021 - precise, elegant, and refined! the cortese family has always made great wines but somehow they have flown under the radar. it boggles my mind. the first sip of this traditional barbaresco reminded me of a 2010 francesco rinaldi cannubi that i had recently. the cortese opens with a nose of cherrries and rose with just a whiff of tar. the fruit is still primary and has not really moved on to secondary flavor and aromatics yet. that said, the wine is drinking beautifully right now. medium bodied and soft on the palate. the fruit is beautiful and bright. there is great balance and mouthfeel, and a sense of precision that most winemakers can only hope to achieve. the wine is utterly captivating and has a great future 5 to 10 years down the road. after drinking this bottle i went back and read Galloni's review. he must have been drinking a different wine. I can't wait to see what this wine becomes........