1989 Barbacarlo Montebuono

Community Tasting Notes (1) Avg Score: 90 points

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  10/14/2020 - forceberry wrote: 90 Points

  A blend of Croatina, Uva Rara, Ughetta (Vespolina) and Barbera sourced from the Montebuono Cru, all the fruit harvested simultaneously when Croatina is ready. Made in a very hands-off fashion: made with organically farmed fruit, fermented spontaneously in old oak casks, no temperature control, no additions, bottled unfiltered in the spring following the harvest with a small dose of SO2. 12,73% alcohol, 0,3 g/l residual sugar, 5,75 g/l acidity, 0,39 g/l VA and pH 3,5. Tasted in a Lino Maga 2015-1979 vertical.
  
  Developed and surprisingly dark yet moderately translucent reddish-maroon color with an evolved syrupy-brown rim. Very characterful and distinctive nose with relatively sweet-toned aromas of sweet dusty spices and wild flowers, some saffron, a little bit of new leather, light notes of jammy red fruits, a hint of raspberry marmalade and a touch of pipe tobacco. The wine is dense, moderately full-bodied and firm on the palate with surprisingly fresh, lively and quite acid-driven flavors of sour cherries, some ripe lingonberries, a little bit of something rusty and metallic, light tangy notes of salinity, sweeter hints of dried dark fruits and rowanberry marmalade and a touch of farmhouse funk. The overall feel is still surprisingly structured with the fresh, noticeably high acidity and still rather firm and grippy tannins. The finish is lively, crunchy and moderately tannic with savory flavors of sour cherry bitterness, some tart cranberries, a little bit of sweet wizened raspberries, light rusty notes of something metallic, a hint of new leather and a touch of ripe red plums.
  
  A nice, fresh and crunchy vintage of Montebuono that is in a spectacularly youthful shape for a wine clocking at +30 years! However, there's a somewhat distracting streak of something metallic that cuts through the fruit - at times rather obtrusively - which takes its toll on the score. Without that metallic note, I probably would've scored the wine easily with 3-4 more points; now it's in the low 90's - which is still very good in my books, but it feels like this wine could've been even better had it been without that metallic note. Nevertheless, this is a very lovely wine - and it's always possible that this metallic character is only bottle variation and there's nothing of the sort in the next bottle!

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