February 2, 2024 - Vinous Monfortino Dinner with Roberto Conterno; 2/1/2024-2/2/2024 (Legacy Records, NYC): Surprisingly to me, the '13 was fairly open aromatically, but on the palate, it is an austere wine in need of time. The '13 is a stereotypical Monfortino, showing dark red cherry fruit, red roses, leather, iron, and a touch of orange peel. It's incredible on its own, but doesn't stand out in the way that some other surrounding vintages do. On the palate, the wine feels more tannic than any of the surrounding vintages, even if apparently that is not technically the case on paper. Pure red fruit, orange peel, leather, and fresh roses flow across the palate, with tons of tannin, and although the tannins are high enough quality that it's drinkable right now, clearly the best is yet to come.
June 20, 2022 - From Magnum, opened in cellar for 6 hours and then decanted 1 hour. In a previous note, Xavier described the wine perfectly and much better than I can and so I am quoting him "This has everything. Power and finesse, precision and transparency, fragrance, amazing complexity, flawless purity, silky texture and rich but incredibly refined tannins, spices and tar and roses, dried fruits, amazing depth and elegance, slightly balsamic finish with amazing length. The essence of Barolo. Perfection."
May 5, 2022 - Tasting: Obviously I did not quite get this wine, as others have scored it significantly higher. I have had maybe 5 wines from Conterno and I have not quite understood the hype. I think I like Gaja (a lot) more.
This wine probably needs quite a lot of time.
October 25, 2021 - A private dinner (Restaurant d'Oude Schuur, Sint-Martens-Latem, Belgium): This has everything. Power and finesse, precision and transparency, fragrance, amazing complexity, flawless purity, silky texture and rich but incredibly refined tannins, spices and tar and roses, dried fruits, amazing depth and elegance, slightly balsamic finish with amazing length. The essence of Barolo. Perfection. Drink now and over the next 50 years.
July 30, 2021 - Wow. A flawless wine. Superlative in every respect. One of those wines that captivates and is understated at the same time. Classic Nebbiolo nose with tar and faint rubber. Effusive dried fruits on the nose. Hints of smoke. The tannins are not punishing now but what a beauty this will be in time. An amazing treat, we thought on par in quality with DRC
December 29, 2020 - The '13 Monfortino showed a glimpse into its potential, but remains very young and somewhat closed off. The aromatics were very cool-toned and showed good depth, with pure ripe red cherry fruit, roses, tobacco, fresh cool herbs like sage, a touch of violet and cured meats, and at times some exotic blue fruit tones adding an upper register. On the palate, the '13 was a dense, massive wine with a mass of pure dark red cherry fruit, tobacco, dried floral notes, and ending with sweeter red fruit, dried herbs, and tar. While clearly a massively tannic wine, the wine was largely smooth given the density of the fruit. That said, the '13 shows a bit less finessed than either the '14 (which comes across as lighter and where the tannin was nearly imperceptible) or the '10 (which was even denser than the '13, better hiding its tannic structure).
The '13 Monfortino is a textbook classic Serralunga Barolo, with a good amount of finesse as the recent vintages of Monfortino have shown. If we're splitting hairs, it's a bit overshadowed - in terms of early complexity, density, and finesse - by both the 2010 and 2014. But in an absolute sense, this is an insanely beautiful wine.
September 9, 2020 - Brilliant. Deep and intense dark fruit, damp soil and savory spice notes. Merely requires a few decades in the bottle. 95-96
August 5, 2020 - SLDS August 2020 - Maybe the world is ending tasting: Orange, cherry, liquorice, slate, redcurrant, ash and graphite - complex and appealing on the nose. Structured and serious but with a lovely red fruit profile that gives it some gloss and flow. Super strong potential to lift to incredible heights.
May 22, 2020 - H2H blind tasting with the 2013 Soldera. The Soldera at this stage overclassed the Monfortino and was more sexy and open and approachable. The nose and the extreme sexy taste of the Soldera blew our guests away. The Monfortino being more robust and earthy opened up more and more after 4/5 hours but the Soldera stood stronger.
May 2, 2020 - Wow! I decided to try this. I bought 3 bottles to stash a while back and thought why not. I’ve had a lot of Conterno but not the Monfortino. Cherry liquor and strawberry hit me first. But mixed in are rose and a bit of tar. Just incredible depth and length of flavor, silky smooth and lovely tannins. Wine really does not get better than this. This is so elegant. I will I was in Italy but this gets me close. I expect I will hold off on trying again for 5 years. Clearly an expensive wine but one that does not dissapoint.