Community Tasting Note

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Wednesday, October 4, 2023 - Barely looks old. Some orange tones around the rim. The nose is profound, hypnotic, the quintessence of Barolo, and a textbook example of what ageing does to a great wine. Leather, mace, carob, cocoa, cassia bark, but exceptional sweet fruit (plums, dates, figs) and also attar of roses. It has reached its apogee of harmony. The tannins have softened to pure Persian silk, yet the vivid acidity remains the source of its energy and vibrant life. A triumph and the very idea - and reality - of pleasure in a glass. Transcendental.

Side note: this is the first time I award 99 points to a wine. I've been using (reluctantly - I think it's a ridiculously bad system) the Parker system for over 20 years. I cannot bring myself to accept the reality of perfection, so I doubt I will every award 100 points to a wine. I've tasted near-perfection a few times (hence the 97s and 98s) but this one, even on reflection, remains at the pinnacle. It's not necessarily the wine I've *liked* the most. That is an entirely separate consideration, as I've long had to explain to people who conflate one's subjective experience with what is objectively the case, or people who deny that truth exists (and nonetheless persist in using a rating system). I hesitated on the day, and wondered to what extent I was influenced by the setting (the tasting room at Massolino, with Franco Massolino explaining each wine - surely the most privileged setting, but perhaps also the most intimidating...), but over a month on, I am still thinking about this wine every day.

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