Seventeenth Annual White Truffle Dinner (Hughes House - Chicago IL): In Giacosa flight. Don't get me wrong... I enjoyed this wine. It had everything you except from aged Nebbiolo, clearly on the advanced side, not showing the bright vibrancy a small percentage of such bottles manage to retain. Others enjoyed this much more than I did.
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Absolutely fabulous bottle. Incredible purity, freshness and delineated flavors. While this was very mature, it felt so youthful and was the definition of power without weight. Everything you want from a 40 year old Barbaresco.
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A small gathering at Bryan's (Bryan's place): Fully mature nose displaying sweet pure red fruit, strawberry, cherry, rose, a hint of raisin, tar, sap, porcini, spicy spices and iron. Perfectly integrated palate, nicely layered subtle sweet red fruit, excellent detail, balance and precision, bright acidity, strong iron mineral, and a seamless long subtle sweet red fruit driven finish with iron at the end. This is still drinking beautifully!
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The ‘82 Santo Stefano was remarkable fresh and youthful, showing dried strawberry, with dusty Giscosa spice, minerals and floral undergrowth. The longer it spent in the case, the richer it seemed to become, showing soft, plush textures on the palate, offset by tart cherry and a fresh wave of brisk acids. The finish was long and feminine, displaying tart berries contrasting sweet spice and earthy minerals lingering on. Simply gorgeous.
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This was drunk at the same dinner, two days ago, at which was served (to accompany a leg of lamb, boneless rolled in a mixture of sausage and prosciutto and herbs, covered in dough and baked, with Marsala wine drizzled in throughout baking) the Giacosa 1971 Arione di Serralunga d'Alba Barolo, reported on yesterday.
This different expression of the Nebbiolo grape also showed its relative youthfulness (1982/1971) in being richer and more fragrant than the Barolo. This wine had not been decanted; the older two were.
By the way, a 1990 Rinaldi Barolo (non-cru denominated), also opened, proved no match for these two more ambitious Giacosa wines.
A 1977 Graham's Port (what was left in a decanter from New Year's Eve, almost two weeks before) proved the equal of any of these wines. Which is praise more of the Nebbioli than of the (stupendous but, even from half bottles, still maturing) Port.
Neither of these Nebbioli seemed quite the equal of a 1982 Mascarello Monprivato Barolo, but that was last drunk severals years ago and thus memory may be playing, with its display of bygone pleasure, its usual trick here.
In any case, we should all be so lucky to taste such wines again, or even once.
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Gary's Intro Retro -- Italia!: Served double blind, and clearly a disappointing bottle upon reveal. The nose here is mature and on the rustic side. With time the aromas veer towards balsamic and sherry. The palate is lighter with a silkier profile. Well balanced, but showed oldest and least interesting of the flight. A relative bummer, for sure. My #5, group's #5.
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Chicago Wine Flock...Gary Goes Italian (Chez Weber - Chicago IL): Tasted double blind in what turned out to be a 1982 Barbaresco flight. One of the more controversial wines of the flight. I found it pale, lighter styled with elegance, but slightly sherried. Most people agreed, a few tasters loved this wine. I have had great bottles of this wine before, and this frankly didn't compare.
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The flight of SSRs included the 90, 89, 85 and 82 and was my favorite flight of the night. The 90 is at its apogee and clearly drinking the best now. the 89 is a monster, 100 point wine which just keeps getter better as long as we drink it. The 85 was my least favorite and the 82 I thought was intense and rich. Most people felt the opposite about the last two
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Out to dinner with W&M. Served blind to W and myself (bottle already decanted). Initially reticent on the nose, but quickly blossomed into perfumey rose petal bouquet. For me, this was immediately magnificent on the palate with luscious sweet cherries and raspberries, which made me think a possible great Burgundy. However the color was dark red. Now come blueberries and orange peel. Some structure, but very velvety and a sweet long finish. I thought I detected some high end merlot characteristics and so I guessed one of those great 1990 Pomerols. Not close, it was the 1982 Giacosa Santa Stefano Barbaresco. One of the greatest Italian wines I've ever had was the 1990 version of this, yet I believe this bottle was every bit as good.
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Bottle 2. Certainly not the best condition bottle. Overall a very dark complexion with dark earth, dark chocolate. Hints of celery and savory herbs across the midpalate and on the finish.
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Sweet ripe fruit on the nose with raspberry, cherry and cranberry. Dried rose petals and violets with soil tones. Ripe red fruit on the palate with a pronounced midpalate sweetness and velvety tannins. Seems as if it could benefit from another 5 years. 95+
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Beautiful powerful and intoxicating nose. Roses and perfume, there is a suppleness and roundess that makes is large scaled impeccablybalnacednwine terribly easy to drink, but even easier to just sit and smell. Fantastic regal wine at early peak. Stunning 98
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NK Mostly 1985 Nebbiolo (Amali Restaurant, NYC): [Double-decanted at 2pm.] Flamboyant red berry and fruitcake nose. Stunning in the mouth. The only great wine tonight. Still a bit young and tannic, but riveting and complex. Easily WOTN.
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A musty sweetness to the nose with raspberry, dried violets, dry earth and spice with air time. The red berry sweetness persists on the palate with dry earth. A silky midpalate with notes of mint. After a 3 hour decant this still continued to improve after an additional 1 hour in the glass. Paired with Scottish grouse (the mountain huckleberries in the sauce providing a nice complement to the red berries in the wine). 95+
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Hunan and the Gang... (Fresno, Ca.): GORGEOUS! Still so youthful…..seamless as silk…..pretty rose and tar florals…orange zest, licorice, plums and cherries…very captivating and irresistible!
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BYO Barolo Dinner (Campagna at the Bedford Post Inn): Darker profile with notes of tar. Tannins are a little bit more woody and drying and just doesn’t have nearly the depth or interest of the two vintages served alongside it.
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Next to the 82 Falleto, this really stood out as being so much more floral with emphasis on red fruit, spice and dried roses. The mix of delicate fruit and raw power is amazing and this wine is so balanced and so complex yet so youthful it is impossible to comprehend how all could be happening at once. This kept improving over 4 hours and I am sure would have been even better on day two. Absolutely delicious and probably the best Giacosa Barbaresco I have tasted.
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Ruinart Dinner (Travelle - Langham Hotel - Chicago IL): Popped and poured, this was a huge step up from another bottle also P&P'ed a year ago. Lots of maturing red cherry with red licorice, dried rose petals. Open and exciting to start, this kept getting longer and more enticing over the ~30 minutes in glass.
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It takes about a half second to realize you re in the presence of greatness here. A stunningly beautiful nose of tar, roses, with lung filling perfume. Rich with beautiful texture, some menthol coming in on the back end. This has suppleness married to power. Structured yet effortlessly powerful. Still showing early peak. A wine to ponder. Fantastic. 98
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Still tannic as hell, with a tight red-fruited profile and a streak of gravelly minerality. Also a touch of something in the wooden/brown-sugar family. This tasted much more unevolved and unready than I would have expected from an '82.
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Wine with the NEXT Chicago Steak Dinner (NEXT Restaurant - Chicago IL): Popped and poured (unfortunately). This bottle kept changing dramatically every 15 minutes in glass. At first it came across as earthy and barnyardy with subtle, mature red fruit. 20 minutes later there were rose petals, licorice and more weighty fruit. 20 minutes later there was an off-kilter wine with too much acidity. Next came a wine with lots of spice and sneaky power. Next time...decant for a few hours.
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(Blind) Fingrumset, dyp rød med oransjeskjær. Dyp, så dyp, parfymert og elegant nese med roseblader, røde bær med mild, innsmigrende sødme. Klar, intens og elegant strukturert frukt med flott dybde. Frisk syre. Milde, men faste, elegante tanniner. Snev av tobakk i utgangen. Nydelig lengde.
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Thursday Night Dinner (RPM Italian - Chicago, IL): An another amazing Giacosa. This had amazing floral, tar, earth, and cranberry tones. Still had a lot of finesse, balance, and edge to it. Loved what we had...will still age for quite some time.
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drank with fclarity and the wine group, i agree with his tasting note but just didn't enjoy it as much, the wine to me showed a rounded palate only intermittently and most of the time it was hiding... just feels like it needs another decade ideally tho perhaps the 12 hour decant could do the trick if earlier
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Tasted blind, this wine had a deep red center with oranging rims. The medium+ intensity nose of wax, tar, rose, tobacco and soil was attractive.
In the mouth, this wine went through a number of phases, including being a bit lean and tannic at first. Finally, it rounded out and became nicely balanced, if certainly masculine.
Not surprisingly, this benefited from lots of air time. Given this bottle was served blind, I don't know how much aeration it received. I would suggest a 12 hour decant prior to consuming. Obviously, this will continue to improve for decades and is likely to merit additional points.
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Showed very well, mature yet still shows a freshness and vibrancy that belies its age. Great complexity, length and style, just a delicious mature Barbaresco.......
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Italian night @ Maurice (Netherlands): Red fruit, old leather, roses and autumnal forest floor on the nose, which also showes a very distant, odd, organic kind of echo of a drying ditch. This evaporates after some swirling, but emerges again when I leave the glass alone for a while. This is just a tiny drawback from an otherwise eloquent, elegant and mysterious glass of wine. On the palate it showes excellent breed and complexity. Mushroom, brushwood, decaying leaves, hay, currants and freshly ground coffee. Fine grained, velvety, soft and ripe tannines are present. Very deep, layered and complex. Outstanding. 18.5-19/20
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A very mature wine with very sweet and raisiny fruit that reminds me of an old Amarone. But it got better and rounder in the glass and began to show fabulous complexity with notes of woodsmoke, dark cherries, forest floor and red spices. Really, really complex. Wow!
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The previous bottles were already great. But this one left them all far behind. It was simply perfect. Very fruity still, good juice, not dry at all. The length and complexity were breathtaking. This is truly great, it reaches the level it seems to communicate emotionally. Thrilling! One of the best wines I ever had, therefore the perfect score.
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Medium brown color, what a nice and complex nose that is full of stuffings, lush and full palate with subtle layers, I don't want to go too technical with this but this is just a nice, mature Barbaresco with loads of finesse and balance.
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Totally Over the Top Lunch and Tasting (Tocqueville Restaurant - New York NY): Lots of red fruit with great floral accompaniment, spice in background. Lots of red fruit still on palate. Still firmly structured with prominent acidity and tannins. I'm not sure how long this was decanted, but it can use more time. This has a great long life going forward, with upside from here.
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What a nose!! This wine was simply delicious: dark, red fruit, tar, coffee. The balance was perfect, absolutely not too alcoholic. The wood well integrated. No hurry at all to drink this, it kept on evolving in the glass. We didn't decant it, I wonder if we should.
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WOW. Deep Garnet. Beautiful nose of goudron, dried flowers, dark red fruits, with some menthol and a touch of grilled meat. Unbelievably complex, with a long, long finish. Amazing performance. ****1/2 / *****
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Barolis lunch at Della Notte (Della Notte - Baltimore): Chocolate, coffee, earth, rose pedal, tar more delicate style than the 90. It is a fully matured complete wine. It also gets minty and spicy. Very bright, clear wine, certainly not as big of wine as the 90 yet it is drinking so well, almost profound version of quaffing wine. Great interplay of tar, bright acidity and sweet fruit.
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Still surprisingly tannic. This bottle was beginning to suffer from oxidation. Rust colored -- almost orange -- around the edges. I'm glad I drank it now; unless your bottle has been perfectly stored, consider drinking it. Interesting saddle-leather and game notes.
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Truffle Dinner: Nose of elegant cedar, with a hint of white pepper. Beautifully built, nicely structured, with tannins which are mostly integrated but still quite large. Still young and gorgeous, but not unready to drink. Mushrooms, cedar, and cherry. I'd give this 5 more years.
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12/3/2022 - Burgundy Al wrote: 90 Points
Seventeenth Annual White Truffle Dinner (Hughes House - Chicago IL): In Giacosa flight. Don't get me wrong... I enjoyed this wine. It had everything you except from aged Nebbiolo, clearly on the advanced side, not showing the bright vibrancy a small percentage of such bottles manage to retain. Others enjoyed this much more than I did.
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11/19/2022 - johnh1001 wrote: 97 Points
Absolutely fabulous bottle. Incredible purity, freshness and delineated flavors. While this was very mature, it felt so youthful and was the definition of power without weight. Everything you want from a 40 year old Barbaresco.
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8/6/2022 - dcwino wrote: 96 Points
A small gathering at Bryan's (Bryan's place): Fully mature nose displaying sweet pure red fruit, strawberry, cherry, rose, a hint of raisin, tar, sap, porcini, spicy spices and iron. Perfectly integrated palate, nicely layered subtle sweet red fruit, excellent detail, balance and precision, bright acidity, strong iron mineral, and a seamless long subtle sweet red fruit driven finish with iron at the end. This is still drinking beautifully!
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2/15/2019 - Eric Guido Likes this wine: 95 Points
The ‘82 Santo Stefano was remarkable fresh and youthful, showing dried strawberry, with dusty Giscosa spice, minerals and floral undergrowth. The longer it spent in the case, the richer it seemed to become, showing soft, plush textures on the palate, offset by tart cherry and a fresh wave of brisk acids. The finish was long and feminine, displaying tart berries contrasting sweet spice and earthy minerals lingering on. Simply gorgeous.
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1/12/2019 - jamesdlandis Likes this wine: 95 Points
This was drunk at the same dinner, two days ago, at which was served (to accompany a leg of lamb, boneless rolled in a mixture of sausage and prosciutto and herbs, covered in dough and baked, with Marsala wine drizzled in throughout baking) the Giacosa 1971 Arione di Serralunga d'Alba Barolo, reported on yesterday.
This different expression of the Nebbiolo grape also showed its relative youthfulness (1982/1971) in being richer and more fragrant than the Barolo. This wine had not been decanted; the older two were.
By the way, a 1990 Rinaldi Barolo (non-cru denominated), also opened, proved no match for these two more ambitious Giacosa wines.
A 1977 Graham's Port (what was left in a decanter from New Year's Eve, almost two weeks before) proved the equal of any of these wines. Which is praise more of the Nebbioli than of the (stupendous but, even from half bottles, still maturing) Port.
Neither of these Nebbioli seemed quite the equal of a 1982 Mascarello Monprivato Barolo, but that was last drunk severals years ago and thus memory may be playing, with its display of bygone pleasure, its usual trick here.
In any case, we should all be so lucky to taste such wines again, or even once.
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11/3/2017 - Nanda wrote: 88 Points
Gary's Intro Retro -- Italia!: Served double blind, and clearly a disappointing bottle upon reveal. The nose here is mature and on the rustic side. With time the aromas veer towards balsamic and sherry. The palate is lighter with a silkier profile. Well balanced, but showed oldest and least interesting of the flight. A relative bummer, for sure. My #5, group's #5.
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11/3/2017 - Burgundy Al wrote: 88 Points
Chicago Wine Flock...Gary Goes Italian (Chez Weber - Chicago IL): Tasted double blind in what turned out to be a 1982 Barbaresco flight. One of the more controversial wines of the flight. I found it pale, lighter styled with elegance, but slightly sherried. Most people agreed, a few tasters loved this wine. I have had great bottles of this wine before, and this frankly didn't compare.
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9/5/2017 - ricknat1 wrote: 94 Points
The flight of SSRs included the 90, 89, 85 and 82 and was my favorite flight of the night. The 90 is at its apogee and clearly drinking the best now. the 89 is a monster, 100 point wine which just keeps getter better as long as we drink it. The 85 was my least favorite and the 82 I thought was intense and rich. Most people felt the opposite about the last two
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6/13/2017 - mhudes Likes this wine: 97 Points
Out to dinner with W&M. Served blind to W and myself (bottle already decanted). Initially reticent on the nose, but quickly blossomed into perfumey rose petal bouquet. For me, this was immediately magnificent on the palate with luscious sweet cherries and raspberries, which made me think a possible great Burgundy. However the color was dark red. Now come blueberries and orange peel. Some structure, but very velvety and a sweet long finish. I thought I detected some high end merlot characteristics and so I guessed one of those great 1990 Pomerols. Not close, it was the 1982 Giacosa Santa Stefano Barbaresco. One of the greatest Italian wines I've ever had was the 1990 version of this, yet I believe this bottle was every bit as good.
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12/22/2016 - Bourgognefreak Likes this wine: 94 Points
Extremely interesting nose and taste of well-structured wine. There is a dominant note of rubber (in the nice way) and dark tones.
The wine may still develop more and is one-of-a-kind. It has not yet developed its tertiary flavours and bouquet.
The bottle was in excellent condition.
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4/21/2016 - tinybubbles wrote: 92 Points
Bottle 2. Certainly not the best condition bottle. Overall a very dark complexion with dark earth, dark chocolate. Hints of celery and savory herbs across the midpalate and on the finish.
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4/21/2016 - tinybubbles wrote: flawed
Bottle 1. Something off as this displayed almost entirely roasty, toasty and dark chocolate notes. Would have been an 87
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3/10/2016 - tinybubbles Likes this wine: 95 Points
Sweet ripe fruit on the nose with raspberry, cherry and cranberry. Dried rose petals and violets with soil tones. Ripe red fruit on the palate with a pronounced midpalate sweetness and velvety tannins. Seems as if it could benefit from another 5 years. 95+
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2/5/2016 - cct wrote: 98 Points
2016 Festa del Barolo Gala Dinner
Beautiful powerful and intoxicating nose. Roses and perfume, there is a suppleness and roundess that makes is large scaled impeccablybalnacednwine terribly easy to drink, but even easier to just sit and smell. Fantastic regal wine at early peak. Stunning 98
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11/13/2015 - kenv Likes this wine: 96 Points
NK Mostly 1985 Nebbiolo (Amali Restaurant, NYC): [Double-decanted at 2pm.] Flamboyant red berry and fruitcake nose. Stunning in the mouth. The only great wine tonight. Still a bit young and tannic, but riveting and complex. Easily WOTN.
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9/2/2015 - tinybubbles Likes this wine: 95 Points
A musty sweetness to the nose with raspberry, dried violets, dry earth and spice with air time. The red berry sweetness persists on the palate with dry earth. A silky midpalate with notes of mint. After a 3 hour decant this still continued to improve after an additional 1 hour in the glass. Paired with Scottish grouse (the mountain huckleberries in the sauce providing a nice complement to the red berries in the wine). 95+
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6/16/2015 - Mrbuzz Likes this wine: 97 Points
Hunan and the Gang... (Fresno, Ca.): GORGEOUS! Still so youthful…..seamless as silk…..pretty rose and tar florals…orange zest, licorice, plums and cherries…very captivating and irresistible!
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6/10/2015 - ricknat1 wrote: 94 Points
extremely good but it could not help but suffer in a flight with the 64 and 89.
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6/9/2015 - bill00 wrote: 93 Points
BYO Barolo Dinner (Campagna at the Bedford Post Inn): Darker profile with notes of tar. Tannins are a little bit more woody and drying and just doesn’t have nearly the depth or interest of the two vintages served alongside it.
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4/12/2015 - johnh1001 wrote: 98 Points
Next to the 82 Falleto, this really stood out as being so much more floral with emphasis on red fruit, spice and dried roses. The mix of delicate fruit and raw power is amazing and this wine is so balanced and so complex yet so youthful it is impossible to comprehend how all could be happening at once. This kept improving over 4 hours and I am sure would have been even better on day two. Absolutely delicious and probably the best Giacosa Barbaresco I have tasted.
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2/18/2015 - Burgundy Al wrote: 94 Points
Ruinart Dinner (Travelle - Langham Hotel - Chicago IL): Popped and poured, this was a huge step up from another bottle also P&P'ed a year ago. Lots of maturing red cherry with red licorice, dried rose petals. Open and exciting to start, this kept getting longer and more enticing over the ~30 minutes in glass.
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12/20/2014 - cct wrote: 98 Points
It takes about a half second to realize you re in the presence of greatness here. A stunningly beautiful nose of tar, roses, with lung filling perfume. Rich with beautiful texture, some menthol coming in on the back end. This has suppleness married to power. Structured yet effortlessly powerful. Still showing early peak. A wine to ponder. Fantastic. 98
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12/5/2014 - Keith Levenberg wrote:
Still tannic as hell, with a tight red-fruited profile and a streak of gravelly minerality. Also a touch of something in the wooden/brown-sugar family. This tasted much more unevolved and unready than I would have expected from an '82.
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5/6/2014 - johnh1001 wrote:
Not sure what was up with this. Muddled dark fruit, dried roses and lots of earth. Perhaps not the best example.
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4/2/2014 - Burgundy Al wrote:
Wine with the NEXT Chicago Steak Dinner (NEXT Restaurant - Chicago IL): Popped and poured (unfortunately). This bottle kept changing dramatically every 15 minutes in glass. At first it came across as earthy and barnyardy with subtle, mature red fruit. 20 minutes later there were rose petals, licorice and more weighty fruit. 20 minutes later there was an off-kilter wine with too much acidity. Next came a wine with lots of spice and sneaky power. Next time...decant for a few hours.
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10/19/2013 - -E- wrote: 95 Points
(Blind) Fingrumset, dyp rød med oransjeskjær. Dyp, så dyp, parfymert og elegant nese med roseblader, røde bær med mild, innsmigrende sødme. Klar, intens og elegant strukturert frukt med flott dybde. Frisk syre. Milde, men faste, elegante tanniner. Snev av tobakk i utgangen. Nydelig lengde.
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10/10/2013 - tooch wrote: 94 Points
Thursday Night Dinner (RPM Italian - Chicago, IL): An another amazing Giacosa. This had amazing floral, tar, earth, and cranberry tones. Still had a lot of finesse, balance, and edge to it. Loved what we had...will still age for quite some time.
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9/15/2013 - WoodieBayArea wrote: 92 Points
drank with fclarity and the wine group, i agree with his tasting note but just didn't enjoy it as much, the wine to me showed a rounded palate only intermittently and most of the time it was hiding... just feels like it needs another decade ideally tho perhaps the 12 hour decant could do the trick if earlier
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9/14/2013 - fclarity wrote: 94 Points
Tasted blind, this wine had a deep red center with oranging rims. The medium+ intensity nose of wax, tar, rose, tobacco and soil was attractive.
In the mouth, this wine went through a number of phases, including being a bit lean and tannic at first. Finally, it rounded out and became nicely balanced, if certainly masculine.
Not surprisingly, this benefited from lots of air time. Given this bottle was served blind, I don't know how much aeration it received. I would suggest a 12 hour decant prior to consuming. Obviously, this will continue to improve for decades and is likely to merit additional points.
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8/5/2013 - paul195 wrote: 96 Points
Showed very well, mature yet still shows a freshness and vibrancy that belies its age. Great complexity, length and style, just a delicious mature Barbaresco.......
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11/30/2012 - jkoenen wrote: 95 Points
Italian night @ Maurice (Netherlands): Red fruit, old leather, roses and autumnal forest floor on the nose, which also showes a very distant, odd, organic kind of echo of a drying ditch. This evaporates after some swirling, but emerges again when I leave the glass alone for a while. This is just a tiny drawback from an otherwise eloquent, elegant and mysterious glass of wine. On the palate it showes excellent breed and complexity. Mushroom, brushwood, decaying leaves, hay, currants and freshly ground coffee. Fine grained, velvety, soft and ripe tannines are present. Very deep, layered and complex. Outstanding. 18.5-19/20
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9/10/2012 - dream wrote: 95 Points
A very mature wine with very sweet and raisiny fruit that reminds me of an old Amarone. But it got better and rounder in the glass and began to show fabulous complexity with notes of woodsmoke, dark cherries, forest floor and red spices. Really, really complex. Wow!
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1/14/2012 - MauriceE wrote: 100 Points
The previous bottles were already great. But this one left them all far behind. It was simply perfect. Very fruity still, good juice, not dry at all. The length and complexity were breathtaking. This is truly great, it reaches the level it seems to communicate emotionally. Thrilling! One of the best wines I ever had, therefore the perfect score.
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11/11/2011 - winecowboy wrote: 93 Points
Gorgeous rose petal nose typical of aged Barbarescos. Multidimensional red fruits. Has a slight acidic sting at the end.
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11/9/2011 - cortoncharlie wrote: 89 Points
Dinner with Lord Rayas, winecowboy, Gianfranco Zola, jpijg and a few others (Hong Kong Winevault): Color was very advanced. This bottle had a great nose but the palate was a bit thin and tired. It retained that classic tea and rose petal signature. glad i popped the cork on this one rather than waiting any longer as it was clearly in decline. may not have been a representative bottle
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11/9/2011 - Lord Rayas wrote: 90 Points
Uncle 7 dinner with DC, GK, DW and a few others (Wine Vault): open and expressive nose of cherry jam, stewed prunes and dried flowers. shame it was a little dry and short on the palate.
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7/28/2011 - Pacalet wrote: 94 Points
Medium brown color, what a nice and complex nose that is full of stuffings, lush and full palate with subtle layers, I don't want to go too technical with this but this is just a nice, mature Barbaresco with loads of finesse and balance.
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1/7/2011 - Burgundy Al wrote: 94 Points
Totally Over the Top Lunch and Tasting (Tocqueville Restaurant - New York NY): Lots of red fruit with great floral accompaniment, spice in background. Lots of red fruit still on palate. Still firmly structured with prominent acidity and tannins. I'm not sure how long this was decanted, but it can use more time. This has a great long life going forward, with upside from here.
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3/20/2010 - MauriceE wrote: 97 Points
This remains fabulous, completely ripe wine. The tertiair aromas dominate, but there is also some dark, red fruit. Great wine.
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12/30/2009 - MauriceE wrote: 97 Points
What a nose!! This wine was simply delicious: dark, red fruit, tar, coffee. The balance was perfect, absolutely not too alcoholic. The wood well integrated. No hurry at all to drink this, it kept on evolving in the glass. We didn't decant it, I wonder if we should.
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3/10/2009 - jlemerond wrote: 96 Points
WOW. Deep Garnet. Beautiful nose of goudron, dried flowers, dark red fruits, with some menthol and a touch of grilled meat. Unbelievably complex, with a long, long finish. Amazing performance. ****1/2 / *****
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6/28/2008 - dcwino wrote: 95 Points
Barolis lunch at Della Notte (Della Notte - Baltimore): Chocolate, coffee, earth, rose pedal, tar more delicate style than the 90. It is a fully matured complete wine. It also gets minty and spicy. Very bright, clear wine, certainly not as big of wine as the 90 yet it is drinking so well, almost profound version of quaffing wine. Great interplay of tar, bright acidity and sweet fruit.
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10/19/2007 - dmbaggett wrote: 88 Points
Still surprisingly tannic. This bottle was beginning to suffer from oxidation. Rust colored -- almost orange -- around the edges. I'm glad I drank it now; unless your bottle has been perfectly stored, consider drinking it. Interesting saddle-leather and game notes.
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11/8/2006 - trankin wrote: 95 Points
Truffle Dinner: Nose of elegant cedar, with a hint of white pepper. Beautifully built, nicely structured, with tannins which are mostly integrated but still quite large. Still young and gorgeous, but not unready to drink. Mushrooms, cedar, and cherry. I'd give this 5 more years.
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12/5/2005 - 83AJ wrote:
intense flavor,light in color,leather,iodine
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