April 14, 2024 - Unfortunately this wine has shut down, and giving a couple hours of air couldn't redeem it. Off the open, slightly austere. With some coaxing, there was strawberry water, red cherry, bitter cherry pits and a long finish. Very light on the palate, yet a very long finish. Med+ bodied. Fruit was a bit high toned, jarring with the bitter cherry pits. I blinded a couple somms on the wine and they guessed ("shut down wine from a strong producer in an off vintage of barolo/barbaresco")... did they cheat!? At this point, I feel the wine will benefit from a few years, putting on weight as the fruit darkens and becomes more balsamic with age. A bit of a bummer because I really loved a bottle two months ago!
April 9, 2024 - The wine has definitely entered a new phase since my last bottle. Beautiful and typical nose, but the palate was all stems and pretty devoid of fruit. My concern with 2018 was whether the fruit would come back, and if it did, what kind of shape would it be in. Still a fascinating wine to drink and we agreed that blind it would be pretty difficult to identify as Barolo. Looking forward to continuing the journey with this one...
March 13, 2024 - JG’s mainly Barolo 2018s (Terra Rossa, London N1): Aromas of a super sweet strawberry dialled up to 11. It's airy light delicate ethereal and supremely balanced and utterly approachable. My WOTN and thanks to the v generous fellow diner for bringing this and initially serving it blind.
March 2, 2024 - These Monvigliero’s from Burlotto are so good. About as pure and elegant as Nebbiolo gets, so translucent and clean! Delicate and bright, with pretty red fruit and silky tannins. I enjoyed the 19’ a bit more than this bottle, but the 18’ is drinking great right now.
March 1, 2024 - PNP into Riedel Yoichi glass ("Flower" day): Pale ruby to the eyes.
High-toned red berries like strawberries, florals, roses. Still primary but already quite alluring on the nose.
Again, high toned berry fruits, roses and tarry spices. Silky tannins.
Still a baby and I would recommend to serve this with at least slow-ox overnight prior. 94-95 points.
February 15, 2024 - PNP and drinking incredibly well (better than the bottle I had in 2023). Valentine’s Day wine. Burlotto is consistent, producing great wine in any vintage - and cleaner than his peers (I don’t recall having a Monvigliero with pronounced VA?). From the hot 2018 vintage, this was elegant and light footed, with red cherry, red strawberry, fresh rose petal and tarry tannins - on a medium bodied frame. Reminded me of a cross between Nebbiolo, Wasenhaus and Burgundy. Red, crystalline, gently tarry tannin. The wine tastes better closer to cellar temp than room temp, cooling the fruit and adding some stoniness (betraying the warm year). A shame how pricey these have become. 95-96 for me.
February 14, 2024 - Decanted for 1 hour, we drank this over our Valentine's dinner with steaks. It was very similar to my first experience with the '18 vintage from mid-last year. This vintage is much greener, with a more herbal focus compared to the brighter, punchier '16 and '19 Monvig. There's a lot of mint, green tea, and menthol notes, all wrapped up in a bouquet of dark cherries. This wine doesn't have the acidic bite that I love in other vintages, but the tannins are really nicely balanced, adding to its overall complexity. I'm not sure how much more this will improve with extended cellaring. But right now, it's very enjoyable! If you have a few bottles, I suggest popping one open now! Score: 94
February 7, 2024 - Pnp, Served in Zalto Burgundy.
Light bodied, especially for a Barolo. Some tannin bite on the finish, but not much.
Red fruits and cherries dominate, then some light olive brine from the stems and some faint rose aromas. A little heat, but not much.
Not quite at the level of the 2017, but for a SV Barolo from a somewhat dodgy vintage, then this is very very good. Burlotto remains very impressive in every vintage, especially due to the elegance of the wines.
January 6, 2024 - This is so young but so good.
December 25, 2023 - Opened in Otto e Mezzo. P&P and shared amongst friends.
Right from the start, the nose was expressive and giving off red fruit and roses. Almost reminded me of Giacosa in how strawberry it was. Gorgeous light colour and the tannins were more resolved than I expected them to be given the vintage.
This was a beautiful young barolo and I expect there to be upside. Unfortunately, it got a little lost amidst the rest of the xmas lineup, and I would love to have the chance to try again soon and properly wrap my head around this. Thanks to Z as always for the generous treat!