1996 Bruno Giacosa Barbaresco Santo Stefano

Community Tasting Notes (42) Avg Score: 93.4 points

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  5/14/2023 - Rote Kappelle Likes this wine: 96 Points

  I have fallen way behind in my drinking schedule for almost every kind of wine I have, but especially for Nebbiolo and so, tonight, though I was tempted to ease off given a busy week ahead, I stripped to the waist (figuratively speaking), limbered up and did battle with wine again. One of the great things about the Whitbournes of Lynehamsas is our quiet approach to doing our duty. No complaints as we suffer for the greater good.
  
  Aside from the usual struggles with decrepit corks, this wine poured well and from the get-go offered attractive red fruits, rich loam, some tar and perfume, anise and spice. Surprisingly youthful for a wine that is 27 years old, the acid is fresh, the finish long and intense and the tannins still suggest a rage for battle that I admire. As this wine spends time open it develops a more supple presentation and open weave.
  
  It has to be said that the usual suspects will probably not warm to this wonderful wine, so choose your drinking partners carefully. I found the tannins worked beautifully with pulled lamb, cooked for 40 million hours in stock, kecap manis (bagus, bagus) and cinnamon, dried mandarin peel and star anise. This added spice to an evening of intense rugger watching - a game that engages the bestial and the intellectual in us, just as this stiffy generator of a wine does.
  
  After an hour open, there is a gorgeous perfume emerging and it ties in beautifully with Maddy Prior's sublime voice as she sings with Steeleye Span - first the 'Saucy Sailor' (very apt) and then the scurrilous roasting of George I in the Jacobite (if only they had been Jacobins) call to battle, 'Cam ye o'er frae France'. By Jove, I could do a turn in the 'kittle hoosie' as I drink this wine and it does inspire a mood to thrash some royal arses:
  
  "Hey for Sandy Don! Hey for Cockolorum!
  Hey for Bobbing John and his Highland Quorum!
  Mony a sword and lance swings at Highland hurdie;
  How they'll skip and dance o'er the bum o' Geordie!"
  
  How lucky we are to have music, rugger and fine wine. I have always thought my last wine would have to be a fine Cabernet, but more often I wonder if that might give way to Barbaresco or Barolo. Then one realises that this sort of didactic thinking is silly - why must it be an either/or situation? Drink both, decanted over the breasts of some of the greatest whores of Babylon. That is the way to go.
  
  Now, when a wine gets you thinking this way, you can see why it scores as 'Outstanding'. Even the tannins of this beast are now seeming almost sweet and ripe and not just the usual tannic bitter. Scrum, ruck and maul! Bring back Buck! Dan Herbert be my guide! Fix bayonets! Plenty of riding of the Goosie! Even the threat of the black pod causes no fear as this wine courses through the diminished space available in my doubtless well clogged arteries.

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  3/7/2023 - neruda11 Likes this wine: 98 Points

  Sublime. Enjoyed at restaurant over two hours after 60 minute decant. Still no degradation by last sip.

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  2/21/2023 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:

  Knights of Alba (KOA) BYO Barbaresco Dinner (Legacy Records): Might have benefitted a bit from a decant and maybe even a coffee strainer or similar. Still quite nice. Lighter black fruits. The Giacosa style which has a bit more elegance in it. A bit herbal. Nice and complex and drinking well.

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  11/20/2022 - La Sprezzatura wrote: 92 Points

  really fresh, I guessed it blind at around 2000-2004.
  earthy and red fruits, but not really intense on the nose, as it seemed rather closed to me and didn't open up during the night.
  
  the bouquet is also earthy and red fruited, tannins still there but medium-, high acidity, sous-bois, licorice.
  
  drink now or over the next 5 years.

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  11/4/2022 - Frank Murray III wrote:

  Served alongside the 1996 Giacosa Santo Stefano di Nieve--both blind, and for kicks, with the 2010 Vietti Rocche di Castiglione (which for me was most unlike the other two, of course). The aromatics, balance and suave nature of the Gallina hit me just right. Rose petal aroma, with a tangy, sweet tobacco, cedar, crunchy cherry palate and a subtle yet present backbone. In contrast the 1996 Santo Stefano seemed immediately more accessible to me, with both a creamy and well-suited ripeness. However, what I also found was with air in the glass, it seemed to tighten as the night went on. So, I ended up landing with the Gallina more to my liking, but what I continue to be marveled by is that these wines age so well, almost glacially in speed, and I'm fortunate that I have good friends around me that share these wines so generously.

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