March 31, 2024 - Decanted 3 hrs. Cork perfect. Pale edges, Fairly dark for a Nebb, clear (almost no sediment). Dark red. Red fruit, tobacco, licorice, asian spices, candied orange peel. Full body w excellent acidity, very fine tannins, plenty of red fruit (cherries), some chocolate. Very long, complex aftertaste. No sign of 14% alcohol. Still riding high, although the fruit has begun to dry out a bit. Lovely!
March 17, 2024 - Powerful barolo that is still youthful
December 29, 2023 - Stood for several weeks. Decanted gently off moderate sediment about 1 hour before serving in Conterno Sensory stems. Color began brick red, but shifted over the course of the evening to much more garnet with only slight bricking at the edges. Completely clean of sediment, beautifully clear. The nose shed some early hints of maderization to materialize as fully intact, displaying dark berry fruit, some licorice, tar and leather, herbs and spices. This struck me as very much in line with the classic 1989 profile - structured, a little stark and brooding but deep and rich. Dare I call it masculine? There's some Gaja expression for sure, but nothing that put me off, no oak spice getting in the way for me. The mouthfeel was slightly nubby, velvety, unfolding on the tongue over the course of a sip. I liked the depth here more than the length, as there was a little falling off at the finish. This example was nicely balanced for my palate, with plenty of fruit/tannin/acid, nothing sticking out. I think this wine has a long life ahead of it, and will continue to develop for at least another decade, but that there's plenty to be enjoyed at this stage in development. Beautiful barolo, a treat with Flannery steaks as the year rolls towards its end.
October 13, 2023 - Single blind 89 Gaja Horizontal. Not at the same level of completeness or interest as the three Barbaresco wines, but lots to like here just in a more coarse, burly and bold style. Could develop some of those nuances with additional time in the cellar as it's not showing peak drinking yet.
October 13, 2023 - Barbaresco vs. Barolo (Chicago, IL): Served single blind. Clearly the odd man out here. Candied and slightly confected qualities to the red fruit here. Relatively high-toned and a distinctly modernist bent compared to the Barbarescos (which while not quite traditionalist where never over the top). This is one of the Piedmont pairs where I think the style of the wines is truly very different between the appellations.
September 5, 2023 - Some bricking, light sediment, decanted for 90 mins. Soft tannins. Fruit slightly diminished. Better after 2 hrs. Still very enjoyable.
August 7, 2023 - Agree with all other recent reviews that marvel at the freshness and composure of this 34 yr old wine. So youthful and integrated with the combination of remaining fruit and mature secondary flavors. Quite a treat.
April 17, 2022 - Remarkably fresh for a wine this old. Moderate tertiary notes. Will shall see if modern producers can develop the same full range of tertiary notes as the traditionalist.
December 31, 2021 - Drank at 67
An absolute beauty, still fresh and young. Give it a couple of hours in the decanter
December 20, 2021 - Some Barolo Stars: Tasted double blind. This wine continuous to age gracefully and improve further. Better, more mature than a bottle 3 years ago (rated 95 pts), this wine delivered a fantastic performance with a perfectly aged, round and weightless structure and a complex, tertiary-heavy aroma profile delivered in HD. I found the Sperss always a little closer to a Bordeaux than many other Barolos and this bottle confirmed that (nailed it in the blind tasting, also knowing the cellar of my friend). This easily deserves a 96/97 pts rating and could have even higher if there would have been a touch more sweetness. Anyway, this Is in the zone with a bit of air.
TN: Very expressive on the nose with dark berries, smoke and some intriguing hints of brett. On the palate this is sweet and sexy, round and harmonious with waves of tobacco, old leather, wet forest floor, minerality, some brett and herbs as well as a rather dark fruit core (which could be even a touch more pronounced to create the perfect balance). Wonderful creamy and weightless structure and texture with round tannins and very little hard edges left and a perfectly integrated medium+ acidity. The finish is long and beautiful driven by tobacco and dark fruit along some smoke notes.
Decanting: Decanted for around 1 hour which seemed perfect for this bottle.