Everything is okay, just the cut. Acid for me is off putting at the beginning as I felt it schizo-ed from the fruit. Fruit was lovely, still there and quite plush at that too. Got pretty good grip as well. But for what it is, and at 33 years of age, excellent.
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Same bottle as Melvin. Still alive and kicking. Impressive for a 33 year old Barbera. Had this at 91 points but otherwise no detailed notes as it was getting too late for me.
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Altare delivers again. Fantastic wine, can go for decades still. Not representative of Barbera in anytraditional sense. Very much built like a Bordeaux wine. For me lacking a bit in acidity and expressiveness that the Barolo delivers on.
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Wines from regions starting with B: Wow wouldn’t have placed this as a 1990 or Barbera. Apparently Altare wanted to build this like a Bordeaux and could see why, definitely saw more similarities to a right bank than Nebbiolo.
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Opened about three hours prior to service and served blind. No formal notes due to the format of the night. Initially, I had some doubts about its health when I pulled the cork (which was perfect, with very little seepage) but it was a little sharp on the sample pour. But I was patient and gave it some time to open up...and open it did. By the time of service, it was very much alive and dare I say youthful! Deep garnet color with very little signs of age visually. Definitely some sediment but nothing crazy. Mostly dark fruited with plums, dark cherry and baking spice. It came across...almost youthful. Developing at the most. Tannins were still pretty strong and acid was quite nice. Very modern but undeniably well done. Nobody called Barbera but folks were poking around in Italy. A very good and lovely wine with a long life still ahead.
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Wine looked astonishingly young. Deep, dark purple-red on opening. Still dense and intensely structured. Quite something. A good match for Thanksgiving dinner.
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Barbera Larigi di Elio Altare Dinner with Sylvia Altare (Justerini & Brooks, London): My WOTN. Still a baby, So alive, vibrant and powerfull. This can give barolo a run for its life. Amazing that this sort of power comes from barbera. Again massive body and finish, 15%+ alchohol. Tannic and acidic and a bit closed, but the moe i had of this wine the more i realised what a gem hides under all that. Superb and after this one never thinks of barbera in the same light again.
In general Elio Altare, created a very modern expression of Barbera. This is nothign to do with what barbera usually is. Although Aged in 100% new wood it is not overpowering at all, Like Salt to pasta to quote Sylvia Altare. These are great wines but if we could offer some critisism is that the wine could have been made anywhere in the world. We would have never guessed this was Italian. But they managed to create something great out of an unispiring grape and did we like it? OH YES!
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Dark, oak is perfectly integrated, a bit of junket and menthol in the nose, massive in the mouth with sweet dark red fruit. Truly amazing wine that goes on and on. I served it blind and people guessed it to be no older than from 2000.
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11/12/2023 - wineton.mee wrote: 91 Points
Everything is okay, just the cut. Acid for me is off putting at the beginning as I felt it schizo-ed from the fruit. Fruit was lovely, still there and quite plush at that too. Got pretty good grip as well. But for what it is, and at 33 years of age, excellent.
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11/11/2023 - pavel_p wrote: 91 Points
Same bottle as Melvin. Still alive and kicking. Impressive for a 33 year old Barbera. Had this at 91 points but otherwise no detailed notes as it was getting too late for me.
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11/11/2023 - Dibbs Likes this wine: 93 Points
Altare delivers again. Fantastic wine, can go for decades still. Not representative of Barbera in anytraditional sense. Very much built like a Bordeaux wine. For me lacking a bit in acidity and expressiveness that the Barolo delivers on.
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11/10/2023 - melvinyeowq wrote: 93 Points
Wines from regions starting with B: Wow wouldn’t have placed this as a 1990 or Barbera. Apparently Altare wanted to build this like a Bordeaux and could see why, definitely saw more similarities to a right bank than Nebbiolo.
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11/16/2021 - thesternowl wrote:
Opened about three hours prior to service and served blind. No formal notes due to the format of the night. Initially, I had some doubts about its health when I pulled the cork (which was perfect, with very little seepage) but it was a little sharp on the sample pour. But I was patient and gave it some time to open up...and open it did. By the time of service, it was very much alive and dare I say youthful! Deep garnet color with very little signs of age visually. Definitely some sediment but nothing crazy. Mostly dark fruited with plums, dark cherry and baking spice. It came across...almost youthful. Developing at the most. Tannins were still pretty strong and acid was quite nice. Very modern but undeniably well done. Nobody called Barbera but folks were poking around in Italy. A very good and lovely wine with a long life still ahead.
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11/23/2012 - SteveHyde wrote:
Wine looked astonishingly young. Deep, dark purple-red on opening. Still dense and intensely structured. Quite something. A good match for Thanksgiving dinner.
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11/4/2010 - Papies wrote: 94 Points
Barbera Larigi di Elio Altare Dinner with Sylvia Altare (Justerini & Brooks, London): My WOTN. Still a baby, So alive, vibrant and powerfull. This can give barolo a run for its life. Amazing that this sort of power comes from barbera. Again massive body and finish, 15%+ alchohol. Tannic and acidic and a bit closed, but the moe i had of this wine the more i realised what a gem hides under all that. Superb and after this one never thinks of barbera in the same light again.
In general Elio Altare, created a very modern expression of Barbera. This is nothign to do with what barbera usually is. Although Aged in 100% new wood it is not overpowering at all, Like Salt to pasta to quote Sylvia Altare. These are great wines but if we could offer some critisism is that the wine could have been made anywhere in the world. We would have never guessed this was Italian. But they managed to create something great out of an unispiring grape and did we like it? OH YES!
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12/29/2009 - NicolaiS wrote: 95 Points
Dark, oak is perfectly integrated, a bit of junket and menthol in the nose, massive in the mouth with sweet dark red fruit. Truly amazing wine that goes on and on. I served it blind and people guessed it to be no older than from 2000.
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