February 7, 2022 - Colour dark ruby, earthy aromas of leather, forest floor . The elegant, dried cherry plum and tobacco, well balance.
March 2, 2018 - Last bottle out of 3.
Colour: Medium garnet towards brick red.
Nose: Sour, then sweet fruitiness of raspberry, cherry and plum. Autumn leaves, mushrooms, smoke. A lovely, slightly smokey, mature Nebbiolo nose. (90p)
Taste: Medium to light bodied. A nervous but surprisingly vibrant balance bewteen sweet red fruit and acidity. Long and juicy wine, with quite a lot of fruity sweetness. Medium long aftertaste. Mouth watering and an excellent food wine. With food the fruitiness became sweeter and the wine literally went from medium-to-light-bodied to medium-to-full-bodied (that’s a first). (89p)
Fully mature but vibrant and, if not with much further development potential (in terms of developing more complexity), then certainly with several vibrant years ahead of it. At half the price of Barolos at a comparable quality level, this wine was always great value.
Total score 89 points
04.03.2018 Update: On day 2 the wine has evolved positively; the nose becoming even more classic Nebbiolo, so perfumed, with a lovely deep, dark cherry fruit and the smoke having evolved more into tarr territory; in the mouth it has become a little fuller and full of sweet, ripe fruit balanced by a lovely tannin structure and such a deep and perfumed (in the best sense of the word) cherry taste.
This really goes to show the importance of airing certain mature quality wines long enough. I add 2 more points; 91 points is the new total score.
December 14, 2015 - Nothing special left in this bottle
February 13, 2015 - The wine looks purple colored. The legs are medium. There is light sediment in the bottle. It smells like cherry. It tastes like cherry, forest floor, oak and chocolate. The body is medium/full. The wine has round texture. The wine finishes long. The wine has low acidity.
October 3, 2014 - The cork broke off during removal and the wine had clearly maderized.
July 19, 2014 - App: brick-red
Aroma: classic Nebbiolo aromas with cherries, flowers, tar and licorice.
Medium-bodied+ with excellent acidity and firm tannins. Nice balance and great structure. .
Excellent length. Nice sweetness in the finish.
91p
This one performed better than expected! Fuller and richer than expected from an entry level Gattinara. And still many years to go. Yeah!
May 4, 2014 - Not much earthiness, but plenty of bright red fruit. Drinking like it's just a few years old, remarkable.
April 21, 2013 - HOLD. not ready yet.
April 20, 2013 - Blind Nebbiolo (not Barolo) at Metro Vino, ending with the Bone Luge (Portland, OR): Nice meaty aromas, quite spicy, smelling of cranberries and minerals. Lean aromas, and that transfers to the palate, which is very lean and light in body. Quite hugely gritty. Really tart and puckering finish, which is also very lean. Gritty as hell an feels crazy young, with youthful tannins and intense grit. The fruit on this was very pretty and bright, but it was quite covered by the structure. Initially I thought this was the youngest of the bunch just due to how it was showing, but once it was revealed as a 2001 I could definitely see those intense 2001 tannins. This needs 15 years.
February 21, 2013 - Vinager.