2011 Cappellano Barolo Piè Rupestris Otin Fiorin (Gabutti)
Community Tasting Note
cct wrote:
Friday, August 11, 2023 - Double decanted in the AM, then decanted for a couple hours in the afternoon. Drunk that evening. this bottle was decidedly more savory and ferrous than my previous bottles on the nose. Tar, roses and a nice mix of red and dark nebbiolo fruit, but certainly less hauntingly perfumed than previous bottles. Full bodied and structured, still quite youthful and tannic on the palate with more of the same fruit and soil notes as the nose. Excellent balance and by itself would have been a delicious drink, but less amazing than previous bottles. There were a couple ounces left in the bottle overnight (uncorked) and the wine had come together quite a bit. I will likely try another bottle some time soon and drink it over a few hours. I think it is all there, but I missed it with the narrow drinking window amongst several wines. A wine I had hoped would shine tonight, and while it was certainly outstanding, my high expectations were not met.
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Comment posted by SARED:
8/13/2023 9:11:00 PM - Hi, I read your note to mean that the wine needs much more time (i.e. was best after left overnight?). Why did you think perhaps it would need to be opened again soon and drunk relatively more quickly?
Comment posted by cct:
8/13/2023 9:43:00 PM - SARED, Good question. I've had the wine three times in the last few years and the first two, the wine was incredibly open and perfumed. Surprisingly so. Another person whose palate I respect posted a TN and felt the fruit might be fading. I wanted to try this bottle again, as IMO this producer made the best '11s in the Langhe, and I am pretty deep on both of their '11 Baroli. I was not sure if this was an evolution past the primary fruit and perfume phase or shutting down, or just a different bottle.
With it being 12 years post vintage, and considering the vintage character of '11, I think it would be a little odd for it to be shutting down right now based on the wine's trajectory to date. A few years ago yes, less so now. Could it being just losing baby fat and turning more savory- mature, maybe. I am wondering if it was the wine's evolution or just a one off bottle experience. I was not drawing causation from the last bit left open over night, more commenting on it as another observed variable that gave me pause before judging causation and thinking it is maturing away form fruit and perfume. If it were losing fruit and maturing, I would not expect it to gain fruit and florals with the air time. If it were young, yes, but previous bottles give me pause to think this. It may be something as simple as the previous bottles were drunk over several hours and allowed to unfurl. This one, while being decanted, etc was shared with 8 people and drunk over short period of time. I am planning to drink another bottle over a day or two and try to figure it out.
Comment posted by SARED:
8/13/2023 10:28:00 PM - Thank you for the insights and very curious what your next bottle instructs you! I remember having this in youth a couple years ago and it was so vibrantly fruited. And then it seemed to transform so aggressively, it is one of my recent datapoints that some of these Cappellano really age quicker than I expected. I ended up drinking my 2011s rather quickly (I only have 2 left, which I debate on when to open!). I drank them relatively quickly because (i) I think Cappellano seem to be aging a lot quicker than my other barolo, (ii) I'm not convinced every vintage hits it just right where they will be aging quicker and should be left that way for 20 years, (iii) I think 2015 is a better version of the 2011 and will more the more long lived - so drink the 2011 while the 2015 age. I'm by no means an expert, have not drank these wines as long as you have, and I'm probably not right! I do know my wife loves the wine and it will be great whenever I open it.