1969 E. Pira & Figli (Chiara Boschis) Barolo

Community Tasting Notes (4) Avg Score: 91 points

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  4/16/2016 - Bill Bucklew wrote: 90 Points

  Great, but restrained right out of the bottle. Really opened up after about an hour of slow O, surprising depth of tight, red fruit, aromatics of red flowers, red cherry and a dusty bright raspberry note. Hung in there for several hours, never really fell apart. Cork was in great shape too.

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  11/11/2015 - gbanks wrote:

  From Chambers Street, where I've bought several 69 Baroli, from names both large and small.
  
  This one was not in great shape. The bottle itself was in good cosmetic condition (label, foil and such) and the fill was good, but the cork was almost totally disintegrated. Indeed, there was some oxidation that created a somewhat overwhelming sherry note at first, but thankfully this blew off over the course of a couple hours. However, it never really gained anything else there either, and so what other qualities it had to offer were despite the nose.
  
  That said, it was still old Barolo in a way that only old Barolo can be, with completely integrated oak, tannin, and lovely tertiary flavors, but all of it was a bit thin really. The high acid in this wine is probably what helped it ward off oxidation all those years, but if that is the spine of a wine, there isn't too much beyond the skeleton here. And while it did improve to a point, after a couple of hours it simply plateaued.
  
  So, I agree with the previous taster that says this wine's best years are 10 years behind it. It still has a little something interesting to offer, but the key word there is "little," and if like me you paid a fair sum for this old bottle, well, I guess you can't win them all.

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  6/20/2014 - sharonandroland Likes this wine: 92 Points

  Classic, but not overexciting.

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  2/20/2012 - Serge Birbrair wrote:

  Slow ox'd for 4 hours but even this well trusted procedure didn't bring this wine back to life. It passed it's prime at least 10 years ago. Note to self: No more 69 for me and I mean Barolo :)

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