1934 Giacomo Conterno Barolo Riserva Monfortino Stravecchio

Community Tasting Notes (2) Avg Score: 92 points

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  4/29/2017 - kenv Likes this wine: 91 Points

  Rare Monfortino Wine Dinner (New York Vintners, NYC): At 3:45pm: Maderized. May show something with some air.
  At 10:15pm: Oxidized, but like a Madeira. It is sweet and nutty. Kind of appealing with the soft goat cheese.

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  11/27/2014 - Paul S wrote: 93 Points

  The Great Barolo Tasting (Taberna): Still impressive. However, served alongside a flight of Monfortino from the 1940s, this really stood out as being almost completely different. For one thing, while the younger wines all sported faded amber hues that were as much reminiscent of old white wines as old reds, this still had a healthy brick-red tone to it. The nose seemed less oxidative too. Thus, while the cherry, plum or berry fruit had similar faded away, and the bouquet also showed the pears and apples and flowers of the other old wines, there was something sweeter, stronger, maybe even gummier about the fruit expression, and it was quite devoid of any rancio, sherry-like notes. The menthol character I often get in a younger Barolo was more distinct here as well. The last thing that stood out for me on the nose was a volatile whiff of acetone that came in and out. Nothing too distracting, but it was certainly there. On to the palate, this tasted very different again. It was a lot fleshier, rounder, with red fruit this time showing in notes of dried cherries and strawberries, even raspberries on the attack, shading into sour plums and kumquats past the midpalate. While the tannins had fully resolved, it was still very lively and fresh, with a good amount of acidity to go with the sweet fruit. This was the only wine that was clearly tasted like a red! The finish was impressive for something of this age too - long, full, with red fruit flecked by a nice spice. All in all, a very good wine. Not quite up to par with the best of the "young" wines that we had in previous flights (e.g. 1971 Aldo Conterno Grandbussia, 1990 Monfortino), but a solid drink in its own right, and still drinking quite well now. I wonder how to explain the difference between this and the bottles from the 1940s though and am interested to hear theories. Fake, provenance, bottle variation, admixture of other varietals - all distinct possibilities with a wine of this age.

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