Community Tasting Notes 26

• Sarastro Likes this wine: 93 points

  December 26, 2023 - Bottle acquired at release and carefully cellared.
  
  Opened 2 hours in advance and opened the neck by pouring the usual small tasting amount.
  
  Reading other notes I was afraid it was slowly evolving but I found it in a very good spot.
  
  Secondary evolved fruity notes just giving some hints of tertiary. A touch of liqorice and mediteranean herbs,
  
  Acidity medium +
  Round but good agility in the mouth
  Well integrated tannins
  
  Medium long finish
  
  Drink now but for sure rewarding for a few more years if well cellared

  Comment

• bugdoced Likes this wine: 91 points

  September 11, 2023 - much older appearance than the other 2009's at vine taster
  but after 5 hours had a wonderful barbaresco soft cherry palate that is so enjoyable
  others did not like the nose

  Comment

• stet Likes this wine: 91 points

  June 25, 2022 - Color: dark brick and brown
  Nose: cedar tree and tar constitute the powerful backbone for a bouquet anchored in violets and sour cherry preserved under spirit. There are whiffs of menthol. Every sniff then brings something new, with strawberry coulis, dry flowers, wood polish some examples. Also prominent some light raisin aged notes and tobacco leaf
  Palate: still biting tannins, medium-high, and medium-high acidity for a medium-full body. At the start a little hot and alcoholic, it balanced out beautifully with an hour in bottle. Very similar aromatics to the nose, intense, and evolving in the glass mightily
  Finish: long and tannic
  
  Way more advanced in color and aromas than I would have expected, it was a fantastic wine nonetheless. It took about an hour, an hour and a half open to come to, it was a little over the top before that. Great companion for a rich pork roast

  Comment

• rlove wrote: 90 points

  October 11, 2020 - Giacosa's 2009 Albesani Santo Stefano offers a ripe bouquet of cherry, strawberry candy, and lots of tar. Medium body with cherry and medicinal flavors. Good finish.

  Comment

• cct wrote: 88 points

  July 12, 2020 - Overripe cherry bordering on raspberry fruit, some rose florals, tar, and balsam on the nose. It's ripe and round on the palate with shadows of Giacosa hard candy fruit, but those shadows are too warm. It has decent focus and a sense of minerality behind the overripe fruit. It comes across warm, with some cherry liqueur notes and a raisiny fruit quality that override the decent underlying material. There is clarity here, but the fruit is just too much for me. It does not come across as overly alcoholic, at least served at cellar or slightly below cellar temp. It certainly comes across better at cellar temp or below than warmer. There is an interesting contrast where it is mid weighted, but simultaneously broad and rich. Coarse tannins for nebbiolo, like the fruit's sugar got ahead of the phenolic maturity. Finishes long, but I am not certain that is a huge plus in this wine. A victim of the vintage and also likely the period of the house. I do not mean to bash this to pieces; it is an uncomplicated, enjoyable, in your face, reasonably well made wine that is a shadow of other vintages of this wine.

  Comment

Pro Reviews 3

Wine Definition

• Vintage 2009
• Type Red
• Producer Bruno Giacosa
• Varietal Nebbiolo
• Designation n/a
• Vineyard Albesani Vigna Santo Stefano
• Country Italy
• Region Piedmont
• SubRegion Langhe
• Appellation Barbaresco

Community Holdings

• Pending Delivery 2 (0%)
• In Cellars 255 (61%)
• Consumed 160 (38%)

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