November 18, 2023 - Not as complete as the 1997 Santo Stefano or as bright and promising as the 1996 Falletto in the same flight. Ripe and starting to show some pruniness. Good, not great.
November 18, 2023 - Nebbiolos, white truffles, Volume VIII (Chicago, IL): #1701. Double decanted at 10am. More intense and burly than the Santo Stefano, but again showing some of the heat of the vintage. A slight stewy quality here that really detracts from the wine quite a bit. Not entirely muddy or unclean, but this bottle leaned into that direction more than I would have liked.
October 17, 2023 - Sangiovese or Nebbiolo theme dinner at Solo. Tasted blind. Drank in Spiegelau Definition Bordeaux. Popped and poured and showing well immediately!
Appearance is clear, pale intensity, ruby colour with translucent rim. Legs.
Nose is clean, medium+ intensity, with aromas of classic sour red cherries, pomegranate, flowers ?roses and later violets too, tar, emerging sour plums. Developed.
On the palate, dry, high acidity, medium+ alcohol (14%), soft integrated almost resolved tannins, just about full body. Medium+ flavour intensity, with flavours of soft red plums, sour red cherries, tobacco tar, slight sweet tea leaves. Long finish.
Very very good quality. Drinking at peak now. Nose has an immediate appeal to it, and palate mouthfeel so softly resolved. My guess was Giacosa 1997 but Barbaresco.
May 24, 2023 - The nose of this particular bottle showed like a 40+ year old Nebbiolo, very nice, but very perplexing. Balsamic strawberries.
The palate was much more true to its age with that lovely Giacosa mouthfeel, fine tannins, yet elegant and very floral with a long, pleasing finish.
Lovely.
March 9, 2023 - Knights of Alba (KOA) Candidate Dinner (Ai Fiori (Langham Hotel on 5th Ave)): During the dinner we talked about the wine that changed the way we thought about Nebbiolo and it was interesting to hear how it was Giacosa for so many folks (me included). This was drinking really well right from they get go and just got better with time in the glass. It was a contender for WOTN for me which is saying something since this is just the white label. Darker fruits and spices and great elegance.
November 12, 2022 - Nebbiolos, white truffles, Volume VII (Chicago, IL): No. 2287. For me, the weakest of the Giacosas, but that's probably the vintage doing most of the talking. And really, the criticisms here are in relation to a slew of very impressive wines on the table already. This shows a little bit of heat and ripeness in comparison, and the fruit character doesn't come through as cleanly. Nicely resolved now; not as much reason to wait in comparison to the better vintages around this year.
February 2, 2022 - This fooled us semi-blind and tasted like a much younger, fresher Barolo, so the fruit has held up remarkably over 25 years of evolution. Nice and tart with backbone and able to hold up against T-Bones. A pleasure.
March 31, 2021 - Hallmark Barolo ; has all the characteristics you’d expect. Drinking now but I would continue to hold and/or open infrequently over the coming years. Superbly balanced but - being picky - perhaps just a little bit too polished! Delicious upon opening and had to refrain from drinking the bottle. Developed nicely over 5-6 hours. Excited to try the next bottle. Expensive.
February 5, 2021 - Nose: This was given about an hour or so of air and it was wide open for business. The tones have melded into each other and have turned that corner into maturity with rose petals, red cherries, strawberries, cinnamon sticks, raspberries, tobacco, licorice, truffles, earth tones, spices, and a touch of roasted herbs.
Taste: The feel is Full bodied with crisp, high acidity and silky, high tannins. The structure is relatively resolved as the feel is deep and balanced with red cherries, strawberries, raspberries, tobacco, cinnamon sticks, roasted herbs, licorice, earth tones, and some spice notes.
Overall: This is right at its peak and will be here for a while to come. This shows the upfront quality of the vintage, but everything has come together and this is in that perfect place of primary and tertiary.
October 31, 2020 - Drinking in a nice spot. Definitely some secondary development, but the fruit is still in nice balance. Fine tannins, really in a good balanced window at the moment.
Stood upright for a couple weeks, tried to carefully decant off the sediment- mixed results.