October 15, 2023 - Top drawer Barolo (Tøyen, Oslo): Decanted 1 hours prior to dinner
Super serious, for me, this felt too young still, 96 is such a stubborn vintage for top Barolo.
Black cherries and citrus fruits, a faint whiff of alcohol, black pepper and green tea on the nose.
The palate had great concentration with seamless dark fruits. Serious, though round, with a very long finish.
Textbook Barolo from a super producer.
November 25, 2022 - Clear, deep brickish red. Aromatic, with earthy mushroom, slight crushed fruit, and delectate tar. slightly fading in the mouth, with notes of herbs, licorice, and flowers. Seemed a little tired. Fun to drink but was outshone, surprisingly, by the 99 Gaja Barbaresco.
July 20, 2021 - 1996 Piedmont theme Lunch at Maison Dakota. Tasted blind. Drank in Conterno Sensory.
Cloudy. Oxidized. Flawed. Game over.
February 26, 2021 - 1996 Aldo Conterno Bussia Soprana "Vigna Cicala"
Conterno's Cicala has always been one of my favorite and most recognizable barolo vineyards, this bottle was no exception, my first 1996 that I can recall and a towering, profound effort. Lifted aromatics of rust inflected, dried rose petals and other red fruit tones (but the rusty red notes of Bussia, not those of the terroirs within Castiglione Falletto). Rich and round on the palate, with the forze of wines of Monforte, red clay soil notes and more of those rusty, irony notes that over time show darker earthy and even a hint of mushroom. Broad-shouldered given the site and the vintage but in great harmony and balance. I think into its peak of maturity, perhaps a tad more so than I would expect from the vintage, but I think has a great long future ahead of it. I show the back label to indicate that this was a bottle distributed in the European market and acquired stateside in abut 2008. Truly a monumental showing for this great vineyard and if I recall correctly some insinuation that Poderi Aldo Conterno perhaps flirted with modernity in the mid 1990s (and I offer that with hesitation), no evidence whatsoever of that. This is a Cicala for the ages!! [the above from my facebook Barbaresco and Barolo group posted -- I'd add that this was with about 2-3 hours of air time, and opened up pretty rapidly]
June 7, 2020 - Toll. Aber am Ende des Trinkfensters. Sandrone noch am besten.
Bin aber weiterhin kein großer Fan von so alten Weinen.
- Cicala: Noch eine schöne Säure.
- Prod di Barbaresco: Nicht mehr viel da. Noch zweifellos trinkbar, aber für mich schon klar über dem Peak
- Anne Gros: Interessanterweise ähnlich zum Cicala. Etwas feiner.
- Sandrone: Hatte sogar noch Frucht. Große Länge.
March 15, 2020 - This is borderline flawed, or perhaps just stored improperly. The classic garnet color was a little cloudy, there was a huge amount of sediment, and the flavor profile was a ghost of what I would expect: heavily oxidized cherries, a bit of tar, and little else. The tannins had mellowed the way you would expect. After about an hour decant the nose opened a bit but the profile changed little. After several more hours, just more oxidized. Disappointing.
May 22, 2019 - good, not great. short.
March 1, 2019 - 8hr decant. Wine still has many years to go. robust and round red cherry fruit.
January 19, 2019 - 8th Annual Holiday Dinner and Cellar Raid - A Month Late (Naperville, IL): Part of wine dinner and cellar raid so did not take detailed notes. Classic Barolo aromas and I recall tar and raisins, with a strong finish and mouthfeel
December 4, 2018 - Fabulous nose of tar, dark fruit and aromatic fireworks. Jarring acidity however put this out of balance. Not sure if it will come together. Tannin is well resolved.