January 22, 2023 - Flat and oxidized. Likely corked. Either that, or way past its prime
May 21, 2022 - il gran finale del Barolo di compleanno (Osteria Langhe, Chicago IL): From the first smell, this is clearly mature. Yet there is good balance and aged tones of dust, cranberries, herbs, some old books, dried red cherries, dried raspberries, earth notes, and a touch of licorice. The Medium boded feel is balanced with drying, high acidity and somewhat bitter, medium+ tannins. This was pretty while it was open, but it did drop off after about an hour-ish. This is certainly fully mature and is more likely on the downslope. This was lovely while it was open and I'm glad I experienced it.
May 15, 2022 - Charity Wine Function for Whatcom Hospice House (Samish Hill, Bellingham, WA): Carefully decanted for hours. Light colored and translucent, more orange-ruby than brown. Admittedly past prime, but still so fresh for its age. Sweet strawberry, cherry; some earthy light mushroom on the palate. Medium bodied, gently acidic, this was a beauty.
April 17, 2022 - Brown-- prune juice and stewed raisins
April 17, 2021 - Still drinking very well. Still good fruit.
April 11, 2021 - Blind. I guess if this was old world and I thought it was either a Grenache because of the cherry flavor or ultimately I settled on a barolo. I have no idea what the producer was cuz I suck at that. Surprising how much fruit was still present, the nose was definitely a little bretty with leather and soy. Super fun one to try.
April 4, 2021 - 1967. Great fill. Orange with a bit of brown at the rim. Soy, leather, rose petals, and sweet black fruit. Integrated and spicy palate ending with a long finish. Very good. Drank from a Conterno Sensory glass.
November 2, 2020 - Past its prime. Very transparent orangish red. Lightening half way to the core. Nose shows soy sauce, Unami flavors, celery, old oak and hints of strawberry, cherries and mint. - maybe a little smoked meat. The palate fairly fresh but maintains some acidity and tannins that remained unresolved past the fading fruit. Interestingly, I drank this out of both a Grassl Cru and Conterno Sensory. The Grassl shows more soy and oak while the Conterno shows more Unami and vegetable. The palate with the Conterno is much better balanced and fresher. With this particular wine, the Conterno has to get the nod.
October 31, 2020 - I was fairly certain this bottle would be DOA and had backups ready to go. It had been standing up in the cellar for a couple of months, and through the glass looked totally clear, but nearly, well, clear. Very little pigment could be seen. Planning for service at around 2PM, I opened the bottle but did not decant around 9AM. I have trouble smelling the tops of bottles, they always smell musty to me, but I detected only slight notes of madeirization at that point. Brought the wine up from the cellar about 30 minutes before serving. Carefully decanted off moderate sediment. Pale pink with coral notes, darker than I anticipated and smelling quite pleasantly of an old cedar chest with slightly dusty clothes and sprigs of lavender. Once poured, the flowery notes grew stronger, learning more towards rose and hovering atop more earthy tones of leather and pipe smoke. Strong barolo magic made itself knows as this wine took on more and more weight with air and left all its shakiness behind after an hour in the glass. I held onto some for the rest of the meal, and tasted occasionally, noting a decline starting at about the 2 hour mark and proceeding rapidly from that point on. What a nice surprise! Opposite end of the spectrum from the '64 Spanna in the same flight, and also a lovely match with the minced goat kidney sauteed with shallot, lamb stock (didn't have any goat stock), touch of cream and a quick flambe of armagnac. I love when wines surpass all expectations this way!
June 4, 2020 - I've rarely seen a wine over thirty, much less over 50 present so afresh. The translucent ruby color fought off scant browning. The nose had brief soy sauce, which blew off with air, yielding to dense strawberry and other red fruit. Strawberry, cherry and mushroom palate; the tannins were fully resolve (laying in a heap at the bottle's bottom having settled in with pigments). Moderate body, acidity and alcohol, this was a beauty. I've read some disparage Fontanafredda as adequate but unexceptional, but this bottle was extraordinary.