2004 Bruno Giacosa Barbaresco Riserva Asili

Community Tasting Notes (51) Avg Score: 94.7 points

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  10/20/2023 - Papies wrote: 97 Points

  Annual Pilgrimage to Piedmont - 2023 Edition; 10/20/2023-10/22/2023 (Piedmont, Italy): Decanted for a good hour and served blind.
  This is a cruel mistress of a wine to serve blind especially with our a long decant. The nose on first serving was touch medicinal, rich and not a Piedmontese aromatics at all to the point we thought maybe an old soft amarine style wine… but then it opens, hits its full stride and delivers something magical. As elegant as wines come from the is region barring the King Monfortino, soft, perfectly ripened grapes in full balance , and a subtle ever so one needs to search to appreciate Burgundian style nose. Pointless to go on here a magical wine and at peak now.97+
  
  Now why did we sell ours a few years ago….

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  10/17/2023 - Robmcl920 Likes this wine: 98 Points

  Vinous Piedmont Icons Dinner @ Legacy Records (Legacy Records, NYC): The '04 Asili is an unbelievable wine. I found it to be a very exotic wine, with the aromatic profile very different than the Nebbiolo stereotype. This bottle was very expressive, more so than the bottle I had back in 2020, but it is still very primary and should improve with time.
  
  On the nose, I found olives, dark red, exotic floral tones, dark red fruit, blood orange, bitter chocolate, and sweet spices. The olive note I got is quite unusual for nebbiolo (outside of the Burlotto Monvigliero, where I've found black olive notes across several vintages), while the bitter chocolate note is perhaps a tell that the winemaking here is a touch more modern. On the palate, the '04 shows primary notes of super sweet, dark red fruit and candied red roses, alongside savory notes of chocolate and olive, while the wine is so perfectly balanced with medium plus acidity and concentration. There is actually quite a bit of tannin here which could benefit from time to integrate, but the tannins are very fine grained.

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  7/16/2023 - drwine2001 wrote:

  A Summer Giacosa Dinner (Spinasse, Seattle): Double decanted 6 hours earlier. Even ruby. Tobacco, tar, and some green herbs. Medium bodied, much denser and tannic than its 2000 counterpart tasted alongside it. More serious and easily confused for Barolo. This just steadily improved over time. Not the wine of the evening for current drinking, but a towering Barbaresco that should approach perfection in 15 or so years.

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  7/8/2023 - jamesabdavis wrote:

  Brooding tarry nose, mint overtones, becomes increasingly fresh and herbal with air.
  Rich dark fruit on the palate, again tarry but with bracing acidity in support. Massive but very fine tannins. Air softens it.
  Fantastic drive on the finish, massive energy.
  Amazing wine, very young.

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  6/12/2023 - EDO89 Likes this wine: 92 Points

  Blind, from Magnum. I'm not going to lie, I was expecting a bit more from this wine. I'm a huge fan of Giacosa wines, I find them compelling, thought provoking and overall great like few others, but on this night, I don't think the wine was at its peak. Coming from a Magnum, my expectations were high, even though it was served blind, so we didn't know what it was at first. The color suggested an older wine than 2004, bricking almost to the core, and the nose was very advanced with lots of tertiary aromas, saddle leather, tobacco, dried leaves and porcini mushrooms. After a while, a deep balsamic note emerged and really took over the nose, with a pleasant dried fruit undertone. The palate seemed a bit tired, but still juicy, fresh and moderately long. Antonio Galloni says 2004 was the last great vintage made by Bruno Giacosa, this bottle definitely didn't give me that impression.
  Time to open more!

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