1986 Barbacarlo Montebuono

Community Tasting Notes (6) Avg Score: 91.1 points

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  4/2/2022 - paintinginacave Likes this wine: 94 Points

  Restaurant purchase at Nobelhart & Schmutzig, Berlin. Decanted and drank over three hours. A medium ruby core fading to a pale ruby outer edge. Intoxicating, pure, and age defying with bright, crunchy red fruits, cranberry, wild raspberry, and Alpine strawberry. The purity of fruit just like the 1990 is utterly remarkable for a wine of this age. Behind the fruit you’ll discover white ash - the type of which you’d find upon returning to the site of a campfire the morning after - floral notes of dried red rose, and elemental qualities reminiscent of melted tar. A wine of outstanding energy and purity.

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  10/6/2021 - Jimswinecellar Likes this wine: 90 Points

  The wine was very good.

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  10/14/2020 - forceberry wrote: 93 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. 12,8% alcohol, 0,6 g/l residual sugar, 7,57 g/l acidity, 0,36 g/l VA and pH 3,2. Tasted in a Lino Maga 2015-1979 vertical.
  
  Pale and very translucent brick-orange color. Dry, savory and moderately tertiary nose with very evolved aromas of tobacco, beef jerky, some smoky tones, a little bit of barnyard funk, light perfumed tones, a hint of blood and a touch of licorice root. The nose feels both rustic yet not particularly funky and very tertiary yet not too old. The wine is dry, acid-driven and medium-bodied on the palate with tertiary flavors of salty beef jerky, tart lingonberries, some sanguine notes of iron, a little bit of sweet, wizened cranberries, light rustic tones of leather and farmyard, a hint of cigar and a touch off licorice root. The wine feels like it has thinned out a bit over the years, yet still the wine retains good substance and intensity with a silky mouthfeel. Nice crunchy acidity and gently grippy medium tannins. The finish is dry, crunchy and gently grippy with flavors of bretty leather, some sour cherry bitterness, light autumnal notes of dry leaves, a little bit of bloody meat, light notes of tobacco, a salty hint of beef jerky and a crunchy touch of tart cranberry.
  
  A nicely rustic and quite evolved vintage of Montebuono that is now at its peak. The wine is getting beautifully tertiary without coming across as too old or going downhill. Lots of depth and nuance here with good sense of intensity stemming from the fresh, high acidity. I can't see this wine benefiting from further aging, but I can imagine it will keep for at least some years more, so drink now or relatively soon - probably within the next 5 years or so. All in all, an outstanding wine - not perhaps the best vintage of Montebuono out there, but nevertheless a fine, convincing old wine that has stood the test of time.

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  6/3/2020 - Poll86 wrote:

  Amazing freshness in the nose with loads of dried red fruits, mushrooms and dried herbs. Great acidity still, medium body and still good present tannins. Amazing freshness for the vintage and such good value for the money.

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  2/13/2019 - AlanM68 Likes this wine: 90 Points

  Safe to say it won’t get any better, but in surprisingly good shape now. Even with an hour of air, the nose is rustic, though the colour is a light red with no sense of brick yet. With even more air in the glass, the wine begins to build, developing more texture, but little fruit. Definitely worth a try if you have the chance, and if you have some in the cellar, unlikely to be worth waiting much longer.

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View all 6 Community Tasting Notes

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