ESTG does Piemonte (West Seattle, WA, USA): Glowing, clear, very brown in color. A soaring nose of tar and roses, classic Barolo, stern, screams of masculine Nebbiolo. Loved this.
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Very pale color. Interesting nose of dried flowers and red fruit. Tannins fully resolved on the palate with raspberries and a finish that reminded me of rock candy but drying not sweet. Lovely and more than just a novelty bottle. I would not wait though . . . will drink my two remaining bottles in the next 2 years at most. Enjoyed with tonnato and tartare and crispy fried shallots, but could work with salmon or other heartier fish. Fun and lovely. Needed a decant for sediment and got better after opening and recorking and then splash decanting.
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Fairly well preserved -- cork intact, color beautiful clear light brick, sediment was clustered nicely and not diffuse throughout the wine. But still felt past its prime. The old Barolo funk blew off, but it didn't shake the raisin quality. That said, after a couple hours it leveled out. I wish I had decanted for about 5-6 hours. I think that would have helped immensely.
Impulse open - no slow ox. Very pale cerise, from a certain angle almost colourless like a ‘75 Burgundy, with faint bricking. Subdued, slightly musty nose, citrus, charcuterie, fried sweet meats, truffles, a faint thread of spice, lichen rocks, old canvas. Fully structurally resolved palate with balanced acidity, rather thin though persistent and somehow intensity comes out more on the long finish. Mild morning cigar, cherry confection, spice, citrus. Gains refinement with air and sheds the mustiness… growing on me.
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Le vin était fatigué, arômes un peu poussiéreux mais avec en arrières plans encore des très légers arômes tertiaires, fruits noirs séchés, écorces de bois, goudron.
La bouche était du même registre, bien que peut-être un petit peu plus agréable.
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A notch better than last bottle - plentiful cherry (lozenge), a eucalyptus herbal edge, cedar, cinnamon, light leather. Not identifiably Barolo (to me at least), but a lovely well aged red with surprisingly bright fruit.
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On the downslope but showed more life than I expected based on a somewhat low neck fill. Cork came out surprisingly well. Lots of sediment, both thick and thin, decanting is a must. Late in the night so don't have good notes : )
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Tasted over 2 hrs -moderate bricking abundant sediment -full-on sweet sous bois with a caramel note -med+ acidity keeps a fresh note, med- weight with ghostly remnants of red fruit, minimal tannins -quite pleasant
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Opened for Valentines Day, decanted for a few hours, and avoided the old Nebbiolo sediment. Initially had a faint aroma of wet newspaper, but this dissipated quickly. Leather and forest floor, truffle, some black fruit. Subdued tannins. Opened up as time went on, and was very enjoyable, but didn’t blow me away.
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Opened for 6+ hours. Retained a bit of astringency throughout, but otherwise presented as a lovely, complex mature Barolo. Aged cherries, sawdust, tea-leaves, leather, woodshop. Light-medium body, medium dark center.
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Opened and decanted. Took a small sip to see how it was, good on the front bad bitter on the back. Let it breath for and hour and tasted again, this time with food. Much better, really nice. Consumed two glasses the first night and two the second. Smoky bacon and leather on the palate. Very enjoyable.
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Another pretty damn amazing ~ 50 year old Barolo....Fontanafredda clearly used to be able to really put out some great stuff. Pretty dark at center, with a clearly tawny copper rim. Decanted for a bit over 3 hours, could have used doing so longer as it was picking up weight and blowing off a bit of VA the entire time. At 3-4 hours, very nice and alive dark cherry fruit came to the forefront, with some balsamic, flowers and some tar (or smoke?). Fantastic acidity. Drank over 2-3 hours (after the 3 hour decant). Last glass was the best, it was still improving. This bottle was simply an awesome showing. The amazing 64 Mascarello from a few weeks back tops this, but not by a huge margin, and this was 20-25% of the price.
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Decanted 2 hours before dinner, best at end of night. Red cherry and hard candy, touch of roses and tar, a bit raisiny at first but actually freshens. Not super complex but quite alive. B
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Had bottle June '16 and gave it 87 points. Unpleasant nose. Needed 30 min of air at least to remove most of funk but some remained. Sour cherries. Loads of sediment and decanted with coffee filter.
Just had a second bottle. Gave it this time 2hr+ decant double decant and coffee filtered out the sediment. Drank beautifully with no foul odors or tastes. Just like a classic highly aged Barolo. Maybe it was the longer decant. Maybe bottle variation.
1971 Piemonte Dinner (Marcel's, Washington, D.C.): Surprisingly deep color. Tart cherry and earth. Lovely and elegant with some sweetness and body. Lots of life, some green for complexity, grows in the glass but still not as silky or integrated tha others. Variable at this point but better than one previous experience with this.
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20+ Year Old Nebbiolo Dinner (Osteria Langhe): Pop n' pour with a short slow ox. Fairly closed/funky/muted initially and I suspect this would have benefited from a nice long decant. With time and swirling the dark cherry, florals and earth tones come out to play. Palate starts sour/acidic but the fruit and weight build with time. Still has fine, gritty tannin in the finish. I actually this wine can keep aging. This bottle was solid but no more.
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In which 20+ year old Nebbiolos were consumed (Chicago, IL): (Pop and pour.) Give this lots of time and air! A good bottle will flesh out and any stinkiness on the nose will blow off (as with this bottle). After all the bottle stink blows off, you're left with a lovely, if a bit simple, wine, showing some nice red fruits and a hint of earth. There's a faint floral component as well, if you look for it. On the palate, this is showing a bit too much acid, and truth be told, it's a tad past its prime. It's fully resolved, and should be drank sooner rather than later.
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Very light brick red. N: Roots, raisins, smoke, bacon, tar, whiff of small candy. P: Fruit a bit muted, somewhat damp/dry, licqourice, violets, minor tannins.
Quite nice, although not one of the standouts of the tasting.
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Tasted blind, this wine had a medium red center with red/orange rims. Some annoying VA was evident at first. After this blew off, the medium intensity nose showed cherries, clove, and some brown spices. As always with the Nebbiolo grape, extended air is necessary to see what these wines can do.
In the mouth, this wine was ripe and rich with rounded tannin and very good length. Its lush mouth feel was a real crowd-pleaser.
While this wine would need to add additional complexity to make it into the elite levels, it was very enjoyable. It doubt this will get any better but it will probably last for 10 years easy.
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Medium red center with tawny rim. Right out of the bottle, noticeable VA on the nose, lean and mineral in the mouth. This changed quickly with some air-up came some dark cherry fruit, smoke, and flowers. Medium body, great complexity and the VA always served as a complement, providing lift rather than squashing everything else. This bottle was much better than one a year and a half ago, with off aromas not present and much stronger, lively fruit and fine texture. Very enjoyable mature Barolo if not quite in the ethereal range.
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Decanted and tasted over hours 1-3. Initial nose of berry and sulfur which decreased over time, but never completed resolved. Initial notes of cherry, berry blossoming into more complex berry, and slightest hint of earth and dried leafy notes. Mild acidity. No noticeable tannins. Definitely benefited from decanting. This wine is still going strong.
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fully mature. this is definitely an old wine. Drank well over 2-3 hours. Started off with a nebbiolo nose but with a bit of funk. The funk blew off and the nose was more interesting and complex with some light fruit notes to begin with.
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Opened, decanted, and poured. Healthy medium red without browning. A bit of burnt rubber which never completely dissipated, but beyond this, soy, tart red fruit, floral perfume and Nebbiolo tar. Medium weight, incredibly fresh cranberry fruit with prominent acidity but real sweetness that lasted over the 90 minutes that we drank it. Not perfectly pristine due to the background sulfur stink nor the most delicate old Barolo, but fascinating and very much alive and kicking.
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This has held up very well. Although it shows it's age, it is clearly not done! Needed about 30 minutes to mellow out. Light red/brown in color, light bodied. Almost burgundy like qualities to it. Fruits are there in the background, still has complex layers in it. Beautiful long finish, leaving a nice smooth coating behind. Next bottle will be opened up for 90 minutes+ prior to tasting.
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Bricked medium cherry red color with pale meniscus; ripe cherry, cherry syrup, ripe raspberry, ripe berry nose; mature, very tasty, autumnal, dried cherry, ginger cake, tart berry palate with rich, ripe fruit yet; should go 20-25 years; long finish 95+ points
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Times change...I had a few old Barolos from Fontanafredda that I bought at ebay, more downs than ups. So I had no big expectations when I opened this dirty bottle with the damaged label. But then: cork fine, nice smell, good taste: an old barolo on the edge, but still with music playing on, even my girlfriend likes it ( bad for me :)
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1/20/2024 - Eric wrote:
ESTG does Piemonte (West Seattle, WA, USA): Glowing, clear, very brown in color. A soaring nose of tar and roses, classic Barolo, stern, screams of masculine Nebbiolo. Loved this.
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10/28/2023 - cnichelson Likes this wine: 92 Points
Very pale color. Interesting nose of dried flowers and red fruit. Tannins fully resolved on the palate with raspberries and a finish that reminded me of rock candy but drying not sweet. Lovely and more than just a novelty bottle. I would not wait though . . . will drink my two remaining bottles in the next 2 years at most. Enjoyed with tonnato and tartare and crispy fried shallots, but could work with salmon or other heartier fish. Fun and lovely. Needed a decant for sediment and got better after opening and recorking and then splash decanting.
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5/18/2023 - Mculfsson Likes this wine: 95 Points
Not tired in any way. Very light in colour, mose dominated by red fruit and violette. Beautiful discreet fruit (wild strawberries in particular).
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3/15/2023 - tcarter Likes this wine: 92 Points
Fairly well preserved -- cork intact, color beautiful clear light brick, sediment was clustered nicely and not diffuse throughout the wine. But still felt past its prime. The old Barolo funk blew off, but it didn't shake the raisin quality. That said, after a couple hours it leveled out. I wish I had decanted for about 5-6 hours. I think that would have helped immensely.
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10/21/2022 - Pancreatitis wrote:
Impulse open - no slow ox.
Very pale cerise, from a certain angle almost colourless like a ‘75 Burgundy, with faint bricking.
Subdued, slightly musty nose, citrus, charcuterie, fried sweet meats, truffles, a faint thread of spice, lichen rocks, old canvas.
Fully structurally resolved palate with balanced acidity, rather thin though persistent and somehow intensity comes out more on the long finish. Mild morning cigar, cherry confection, spice, citrus. Gains refinement with air and sheds the mustiness… growing on me.
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7/22/2022 - François1986 wrote: 88 Points
Ouvert 4h à l'avance.
Le vin était fatigué, arômes un peu poussiéreux mais avec en arrières plans encore des très légers arômes tertiaires, fruits noirs séchés, écorces de bois, goudron.
La bouche était du même registre, bien que peut-être un petit peu plus agréable.
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5/9/2022 - DaleW wrote: flawed
Advanced, a bit sour, not a good bottle.
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10/27/2021 - kstoddard wrote:
Dead
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8/13/2021 - Biskuit Likes this wine: 92 Points
A notch better than last bottle - plentiful cherry (lozenge), a eucalyptus herbal edge, cedar, cinnamon, light leather. Not identifiably Barolo (to me at least), but a lovely well aged red with surprisingly bright fruit.
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7/14/2021 - decaturwinedude wrote:
A Good Tuesday, Vol. V: '10 LdH Rosado, '20 D&R, '07 Dujac, '00 Hudelot, '93 & '01Sandrone (Aria): See Biskuit's note. Actually, this was the best drinking Barolo of the three on the table. Still lively and drinking well. 50 year old Barolo is always a treat.
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7/13/2021 - Biskuit Likes this wine: 91 Points
On the downslope but showed more life than I expected based on a somewhat low neck fill. Cork came out surprisingly well. Lots of sediment, both thick and thin, decanting is a must. Late in the night so don't have good notes : )
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3/12/2021 - Cote d'Or wrote:
Tasted over 2 hrs
-moderate bricking abundant sediment
-full-on sweet sous bois with a caramel note
-med+ acidity keeps a fresh note, med- weight with ghostly remnants of red fruit, minimal tannins
-quite pleasant
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2/14/2021 - osagher wrote: 88 Points
Opened for Valentines Day, decanted for a few hours, and avoided the old Nebbiolo sediment. Initially had a faint aroma of wet newspaper, but this dissipated quickly. Leather and forest floor, truffle, some black fruit. Subdued tannins. Opened up as time went on, and was very enjoyable, but didn’t blow me away.
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5/18/2020 - enthusiastic_amateur Likes this wine: 88 Points
Opened for 6+ hours. Retained a bit of astringency throughout, but otherwise presented as a lovely, complex mature Barolo. Aged cherries, sawdust, tea-leaves, leather, woodshop. Light-medium body, medium dark center.
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3/29/2020 - Mtpisgah Likes this wine:
Opened and decanted. Took a small sip to see how it was, good on the front bad bitter on the back. Let it breath for and hour and tasted again, this time with food. Much better, really nice. Consumed two glasses the first night and two the second. Smoky bacon and leather on the palate. Very enjoyable.
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11/8/2019 - pilot360 wrote: flawed
Both bottles were bad. One severely corked, the other smelled and tasted of “chicken shit”. Yum.
Down the drain x 2
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8/24/2019 - cadamson Likes this wine:
Another pretty damn amazing ~ 50 year old Barolo....Fontanafredda clearly used to be able to really put out some great stuff. Pretty dark at center, with a clearly tawny copper rim. Decanted for a bit over 3 hours, could have used doing so longer as it was picking up weight and blowing off a bit of VA the entire time. At 3-4 hours, very nice and alive dark cherry fruit came to the forefront, with some balsamic, flowers and some tar (or smoke?). Fantastic acidity. Drank over 2-3 hours (after the 3 hour decant). Last glass was the best, it was still improving. This bottle was simply an awesome showing. The amazing 64 Mascarello from a few weeks back tops this, but not by a huge margin, and this was 20-25% of the price.
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4/29/2019 - DaleW wrote:
Decanted 2 hours before dinner, best at end of night. Red cherry and hard candy, touch of roses and tar, a bit raisiny at first but actually freshens. Not super complex but quite alive. B
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2/23/2018 - wineguy75 Likes this wine: 94 Points
Had bottle June '16 and gave it 87 points. Unpleasant nose. Needed 30 min of air at least to remove most of funk but some remained. Sour cherries. Loads of sediment and decanted with coffee filter.
Just had a second bottle. Gave it this time 2hr+ decant double decant and coffee filtered out the sediment. Drank beautifully with no foul odors or tastes. Just like a classic highly aged Barolo. Maybe it was the longer decant. Maybe bottle variation.
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2/4/2017 - drwine2001 wrote:
1971 Piemonte Dinner (Marcel's, Washington, D.C.): Surprisingly deep color. Tart cherry and earth. Lovely and elegant with some sweetness and body. Lots of life, some green for complexity, grows in the glass but still not as silky or integrated tha others. Variable at this point but better than one previous experience with this.
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1/25/2017 - Neecies Likes this wine:
From the days when Fontanafredda was a less-industrial producer than they are today. Pale-orangey with tarry tea-like fruit. A treat.
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5/19/2016 - Nanda wrote: 88 Points
20+ Year Old Nebbiolo Dinner (Osteria Langhe): Pop n' pour with a short slow ox. Fairly closed/funky/muted initially and I suspect this would have benefited from a nice long decant. With time and swirling the dark cherry, florals and earth tones come out to play. Palate starts sour/acidic but the fruit and weight build with time. Still has fine, gritty tannin in the finish. I actually this wine can keep aging. This bottle was solid but no more.
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5/19/2016 - acyso wrote: 88 Points
In which 20+ year old Nebbiolos were consumed (Chicago, IL): (Pop and pour.) Give this lots of time and air! A good bottle will flesh out and any stinkiness on the nose will blow off (as with this bottle). After all the bottle stink blows off, you're left with a lovely, if a bit simple, wine, showing some nice red fruits and a hint of earth. There's a faint floral component as well, if you look for it. On the palate, this is showing a bit too much acid, and truth be told, it's a tad past its prime. It's fully resolved, and should be drank sooner rather than later.
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4/22/2016 - Krassens Likes this wine: 91 Points
Horizontal vintage tasting of 1971 Barolos.
Very light brick red. N: Roots, raisins, smoke, bacon, tar, whiff of small candy. P: Fruit a bit muted, somewhat damp/dry, licqourice, violets, minor tannins.
Quite nice, although not one of the standouts of the tasting.
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10/23/2015 - fclarity wrote: 93 Points
Tasted blind, this wine had a medium red center with red/orange rims. Some annoying VA was evident at first. After this blew off, the medium intensity nose showed cherries, clove, and some brown spices. As always with the Nebbiolo grape, extended air is necessary to see what these wines can do.
In the mouth, this wine was ripe and rich with rounded tannin and very good length. Its lush mouth feel was a real crowd-pleaser.
While this wine would need to add additional complexity to make it into the elite levels, it was very enjoyable. It doubt this will get any better but it will probably last for 10 years easy.
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5/12/2015 - drwine2001 wrote:
Medium red center with tawny rim. Right out of the bottle, noticeable VA on the nose, lean and mineral in the mouth. This changed quickly with some air-up came some dark cherry fruit, smoke, and flowers. Medium body, great complexity and the VA always served as a complement, providing lift rather than squashing everything else. This bottle was much better than one a year and a half ago, with off aromas not present and much stronger, lively fruit and fine texture. Very enjoyable mature Barolo if not quite in the ethereal range.
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12/20/2014 - WinePT wrote: 90 Points
Decanted and tasted over hours 1-3. Initial nose of berry and sulfur which decreased over time, but never completed resolved. Initial notes of cherry, berry blossoming into more complex berry, and slightest hint of earth and dried leafy notes. Mild acidity. No noticeable tannins. Definitely benefited from decanting. This wine is still going strong.
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3/29/2014 - Montecalvo Likes this wine: 92 Points
fully mature. this is definitely an old wine. Drank well over 2-3 hours. Started off with a nebbiolo nose but with a bit of funk. The funk blew off and the nose was more interesting and complex with some light fruit notes to begin with.
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11/14/2013 - drwine2001 wrote:
Opened, decanted, and poured. Healthy medium red without browning. A bit of burnt rubber which never completely dissipated, but beyond this, soy, tart red fruit, floral perfume and Nebbiolo tar. Medium weight, incredibly fresh cranberry fruit with prominent acidity but real sweetness that lasted over the 90 minutes that we drank it. Not perfectly pristine due to the background sulfur stink nor the most delicate old Barolo, but fascinating and very much alive and kicking.
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10/19/2013 - redwiner Likes this wine: 91 Points
This has held up very well. Although it shows it's age, it is clearly not done! Needed about 30 minutes to mellow out. Light red/brown in color, light bodied. Almost burgundy like qualities to it. Fruits are there in the background, still has complex layers in it. Beautiful long finish, leaving a nice smooth coating behind. Next bottle will be opened up for 90 minutes+ prior to tasting.
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1/24/2013 - rjonwine@gmail.com Likes this wine: 95 Points
Bricked medium cherry red color with pale meniscus; ripe cherry, cherry syrup, ripe raspberry, ripe berry nose; mature, very tasty, autumnal, dried cherry, ginger cake, tart berry palate with rich, ripe fruit yet; should go 20-25 years; long finish 95+ points
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12/28/2012 - Thomas D. wrote: 88 Points
Times change...I had a few old Barolos from Fontanafredda that I bought at ebay, more downs than ups.
So I had no big expectations when I opened this dirty bottle with the damaged label.
But then: cork fine, nice smell, good taste: an old barolo on the edge, but still with music playing on, even my girlfriend likes it ( bad for me :)
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5/1/2012 - jpb2007 wrote: flawed
Just dead.
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4/14/2012 - humagne wrote: flawed
Passed away.
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2/22/2010 - claudio_bxl wrote: flawed
a pity, a bottle with good level, fairly ok level of concentration in the glass but the wine was dead.
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9/1/2009 - Giggs wrote:
Still has signs of life. Extremely astringent with some cherry and mild floral character. Quite an experience tasting this 38yo.
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12/28/2006 - goofy Yno wrote: flawed
nose of mushrooms, truffles and a distinct sherry componate. not much fruit left. definatly over the hill.
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12/27/2006 - kstoddard wrote: flawed
Over the hill. Smells like Sherry. Oxidized. Too bad.
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