Verduno

Verduno has become an interesting frontier for me. The smallest and least talked about (ok, Roddi, Novello and Grinzane deserve equal time as far as obscurity) of Barolo's zones, as time goes on, it is gradually carving out a reputation for producing Barolo's most elegant wines. It is here where Pinot Noir and Nebbiolo comes closest to crossing paths. Located a few kilometers 'behind' La Morra, it is less protected by it's hill, hence it's cooler but its best vineyards (vineyard, really, as there seems to be the sun-baked undulating curtain of Monvegliero and everything else) actually face La Morra and get plenty ripe although, once one tastes through the wines, you quickly realize that the wines here have more finesse than its neighbors'.

Three of Verduno's best producers, Castello di Verduno, Alessandria Fratelli and Burlotto invited us out to the hamlet's beautiful park for an orientation of the area and to taste through some current releases and some older wines to show that more elegant doesn't necessarily mean shorter-lived. The view from the edge of the park is stunning. You can see just about the entire Barolo and Barbaresco zone although the rolling Brunate cru obscures the town of Barolo itself. The hilltop of La Morra towers over everything while Serralunga shimmers in the far distance.
Though there are some good Verduno vineyards between the park and La Morra, the best are off to the left where the afternoon sun warms them. The best known is Monvegliero and I think all three of these producers farm it. The Verduno 2007s are pretty ripe and maybe don't have the freshness to count them as truly elegant expressions of Nebbiolo but I will let time sort that out. The Nebbiolo in the showcased 2008s, however, was very pretty- all three wines had this sort of cherry-lavender thing going on and the tannins real supple. These are fresh and elegant, reminding me of three Santenays as much as three Baroli.

Where the tasting got very interesting (of course, as a certified wine geek, I enjoyed tasting the wineries' juicy Pelavergas as much as anything) though was when we got to the older wines. The 1988 Burlotto out of a double magnum was creamy, complex and briary- only 75% of the way up the hill- while Alesandria's 1985 was remarkable for its youth (I haven't had any 1985s in a while) and polish. Of great interest was Castello di Verduno's 1989 Monvegliero. This has always been a favorite vintage and I've a lot of wines from the heart of the appellation but none that I can remember from Verduno. It didn't disappoint: all cinnamon, sandalwood and lovely earth. It was one of those wines I hated to see disappear from the glass. This is why we wait.

What I will remember most from the spring afternoon was the fifteen minutes Colorado mate Brad and I spent nearly asleep on the lawn in the warm sunshine. But, if you don't like the weather in Barolo, wait ten minutes! In fact, off to the northwest it was getting very dark and as we boarded the bus from the hotel to go to Nebbiolo Prima's Grand Finale Party, there were tales of hail in Novello. By the time we drove the 15 minutes to the town of Barolo, enormous rain drops were falling from a badly bruised skies and the scramble was on to move a party for 350 with catering and live music into the narrow bowels of Barolo castle from its patio.

Of course the rain almost immediately stopped and when I fled the crowded, hot and steamy conditions downstairs for a glass of Arneis on the patio, I got to see one of those sunsets that will keep me coming back to Barolo forever.

That would be the perfect ending of course, but this year's Nebbiolo Prima added an extra tasting session to compensate for the reduced number of wines per sitting so I've got to get up bright and early tomorrow for that.....if I don't stay up too late with the guys and close down the bar.....again.

See You At The La Morra Starbuck's

It is with the end in sight that we file into the Ampelion for Thursday's penultimate tasting of the trip: seventy-or-so Baroli from La Morra and Monforte. As I sit down and leaf through the wines to come, I am expecting a stark contrast between the two communes, juicy and luscious from La Morra and bigger, more structured wines from Monforte. The only two 2007 Barolis I've had in America so far have been from La Morra and both have been extremely delicious, punchy wines with both lovely, elegant fruit and life on the back end. The prognosis for today's tasting is very positive.
But what happens, of course, is a lot more complicated. La Morra, like apparently the rest of Barolo, is a mixed bag. Ripe, underripe, overripe.....2007, despite the press, was no slam dunk.
What most had in common, interestingly enough, were descriptors involving coffee...in fact, by the end of the La Morra portion of the tasting, I was calling today 'Starbuck's Thursday.'

There was burnt coffee, espresso, roasted, spiced coffee, fig coffee, cherry coffee, peach coffee and even something I called celery coffee (don't get any ideas Starbuck's- it's not a good combination). There was latte, chai, even the odd caramel macchiato. And, no, I wasn't particularly in need of a cup a Joe when I sat down this morning. I don't even drink the stuff.

All that coffee seems to be a feature of these wines no matter the relative ripeness. Early in the tasting, as we plowed through lesser crus and village wines, that coffee in the nose and its related coarseness on the palate was very pronounced. It was in the early going where celery coffee and the peach macchiato were created! It was as we crawled into the better sites from top-quality producers where descriptors like fig, marzipan, cherry confit and cinnamon began to supplant all that damned coffee. But, even then, the coffee merely became mocha! Having said all this- and not being a coffee drinker myself- I liked if not loved- a lot more wines today than previously. The best have that bright snap I find myself craving when the fruit gets riper and more dominant. In fact, my list of favorite La Morra wines is quite long:

2007 Mario Marengo Barolo La Morra: I actually have this one in the shop already and, today, it is the first after nine straight ho-hum wines that I could call complete. Stylish, classically La Morra and very well balanced. ***

2007 Renato Ratti Barolo Conca: no surprise here. ***

2007 Bosco Agostino Barolo La Serra: Who? Here come the figs and if you can get around some big tannins, this is a very good wine.***

2007 Cascina del Monastero Barolo Bricco Luciani: Another new one on me. Complete and balanced. ***

2007 Cordero di Montezemolo Barolo Monfalletto-Gattera: Earns a mention here even though its roasted coffee tannins seemed to detract from an otherwise stylish wine. Revisit. **+

2007 Michele Chiarlo Barolo Cerequio: This too gets a mention because it is indicative of a problem I see around Barolo where the wines are 'good' but simply lack panache. Well balanced, perfectly ripe, nice oak but........ **+

2007 Rocche Costamagna Barolo Rocche dell'Annunziata: This lover boy and the Gagliasso below make me wish I could taste more wines from this absolutely great spot down the La Morra hill. ***

2007 Mario Gagliasso Barolo Rocche dell'Annunziata: Dark, dramatic, a Turkish coffee blend where everything else is 'Bucky's ***

2007 Ceretto Barolo Bricco Rocche Brunate: Now here is the flair I've been missing. fig coffee and all the condiments too!***

2007 Vietti Barolo Brunate: Knocked down by big tannins and what I suspect will be a big price. Outsized and made to be reckoned with. **+

2007 Andrea Oberto Barolo Vigneto Brunate: The third wine so far from this ultra modern producer who is clearly in love with his French barriques, is the charm. This one has enough fruit to be delicious. ***

What a difference a few kilometers makes. Down the La Morra hill and up the other side is Monforte d'Alba. Gone are La Morra's blue clay, pebbles and sand and say hello to redder, harder stuff that makes, well, redder, harder wines! I am not sure what to make of the Monforte lineup today as there are so many important wines from this appellation not represented today. Here's Grasso's Gavarini, for example, but not Case Mate and the absence of producers like Clerico, Conterno-Fantino, Scavino and host of others makes it hard to establish in my mind how much Monforte has actually achieved in 2007. Still, the descriptors are there. I wrote used words like ferrous, blood, fennel seed, scorched earth, cinnamon, cloves, tar and bitter almond (no, not cyanide) at one time or another over the next couple of dozen wines and, with the caveat that we won't taste Serralunga until tomorrow, these might be the best-structured wines for the longer haul in Barolo. As I taste through, I get hints of 1996 with flashes of the rounder but even-keeled 1998s thrown in for good measure. But, again, some are short on style...that panache that makes them memorable. Again, if only there were some benchmarks in here, we'd know better. My stand outs included:

2007 Abbona Marziano Barolo Pressenda: Oaky for sure but here is the Monforte Barolo carved in beautiful relief. ***

2007 Elio Grasso Barolo Gavarini Chiniera: This has always been my third favorite of the Grasso wines and if it is this good, what must the Case Mate be like? *** (I don't know if they are making a Runcot in 2007-forgot to ask)

2007 Mauro Veglio Barolo Castelletto: I search each category for a benchmark wine, one that shows all the attributes- positive or negative- of the area and this is it for Monforte. Not the most stylish wine in the world but the pieces are all there. **+

2007 Prunotto Barolo Bussia: Juicy, intense, balanced- even silky- and very easy to love.

2007 Parusso Armando di Parusso Barolo Bussia: Oak contributes rather than hinders here as it's a ruddy, brooding wine with an almost too intense array of Monforte flavors. ***

2007 Podere Rocche dei Manzoni Barolo Vigna Cappella di Santo Stefano: This is a big boy that will blow your doors in if it ever grows into its outsized tannin. ***?

May 11th, The Barolo Monologues

It is with renewed energy and enthusiasm that the tasters reconvene this morning in Alba's Ampelion. The wine school-research center was created solely for the development of the area and sits perched atop a hill planted to a vast assortment of wine grapes local to not only Piemonte but the rest of Northern Italy. As we settle into our seats, each with its 5 large tasting glasses and a list of wines, there is a beehive of activity around the building, not only just that centered on the four Italian sommeliers and their assistants preparing to get our wine poured.
At last, sometime after 9, our personal somm du jour pours a shrouded sample into each of our first glasses and we use it to 'charge' or 'condition' the other four, making it ready for the tasting wine to come.

Glass charging, by the way, is a custom/ritual I really enjoy. We've been unsuccessful in instituting it at PRIMA, as its purpose is not well understood in America and we run the risk of looking contrived if we don't pull it off well. Still, when a very special bottle of wine is being poured, we like to do it. What do you think?

The wines today start with a couple of dozen DOCG Barolo, mostly of mixed parentage- Grinzane-Cavour, Roddi and a variety of combinations of all the approved appellations. They are pitched either high (pomegranate, tart plum) or low (bitter chocolate, woodsy, sandalwood) and the best best have juicy, nicely balanced acidity. The next group of six come from the small commune of Verduno, an area that has been making a name for itself of late with very elegant, Burgundy-like Barolo. I am intrigued enough to spend an afternoon visiting later in the week. This lineup is also surprisingly inconsistent with its hallmark sweet, lacy fruit and juicy acidity, but tannins that are either too gritty or too dry. Wines like Alessandria Fratelli and Burlotto seem to have all the right stuff, it's just not in place yet. Only two wines in the first hour or so of tasting bear mentioning....one of my new favorite wineries, Castello di Verduno, doesn't have a horse in the race.

2007 La Strette Az Ag Barolo Novello-Barolo: Nope, don't know it either but its low pitched, chocolate-mocha, cinnamon spice nose and pretty tannins struck just the right notes. ***

2007 Burlotto Barolo Acclivi Verduno: Not even their best wine, this showed well with complex herbal-caraway notes playing off a texture that seems to be gaining in weight and complexity. Young and disjointed, this one is close to getting to together. ***

The next round of wines, maybe three dozen, all come from the commune of Barolo and well known vineyards like Costa Grimaldi, the relatively undiscovered Rue and several other lesser-known spots are featured. This is also a long haul: quality here too is all over the map with many either lean, ashy and acidic or big, brawny and clumsy. Of this long, fairly disheartening parade of wines, only 2007 Podere Einaudi's Costa Grimaldi stands out for its perfect balance of freshness and ripe fruit. Its flavors seem built up, like those of a Beef Barolo, making for a complex wine that will probably age well. *** Others that also impress are:

2007 Bartolo Mascarello Barolo Barolo-La Morra: She gets a pass for this attenuated, rather stingy wine because I know how well it will come together. ***(-)

2007 Cascina Adelaide Barolo 'Preda'- oaky for sure but it fills the mouth with really good cherry confit fruit and a back end of spice. ***

Then come eleven straight wines from the enormous Cannubi vineyard- one of Barolo's touchstone areas and the focus of great deal of consternation last year when, almost to a wine, they profoundly disappointed the group. The wines were overripe, clumsy and hollow, virtually all moving within a narrow bandwidth of prune-like fruit and searing tannins.

Alas, I come not to bury 2006 Cannubi but to praise 2007, one of the highlight moments of the week. Though there is some inconsistency even in this august group of eleven, most approach ***- hood with nicely ripe flavors, juicy acidity and well-filled but not overdone textures. Many variations of chocolate are apparent here as are descriptors like fig, meat (as in raw), scorched earth and 'nicely balanced.' As a group, they are as interesting as the 2006s were not. My favorites were:

2007 Marchesi di Barolo Cannubi: Hey, just because they are big, doesn't mean they can't make good wine. This one tastes like a cherry chocolate bar! ***

2007 Gianni Gagliardo Barolo Cannubi: This is the guy who makes that delicious Favorita! His Cannubi is dark and brooding with meat blood, briar and spice around something darker and mysterious. Bears watching. ***

2007 Burlotto Barolo Vigneto Cannubi: Didn't even know they made Cannubi but in 2007 they made a really good one! ***

2007 Poderi Einaudi Barolo Nei Cannubi: Fresh, warm and even though an empirical taster may dock for the wines pushy tannins and out of balance acidity, I have to give points for track record here too as he often makes the best wine in the commune. ***?

2007 E Pira di Chiara Boschis Barolo Cannubi: Another one that doesn't mess around....briary and tannic with a brawniness that needs only time to pull together. ***?

2007 Virna Borgogno Barolo Cannubi: Definitely the best nose of the day redolent of cinnamon, carraway, cardamom and sandalwood. Gets my vote for its sex appeal even though the rest of the wine is only average. ***

2007 Giuseppe Rinaldi Barolo Cannubi-San Lorenzo-Ravera: OK....if we taste a better wine this week, I'll be surprised. I know the American arrangements for this wine are bogus but I am willing to do what it takes to get this wine back at PRIMA. OMG. ****

The Cannubis seque into a few other Barolo area Crus like Sarmassa and Brunate-La Morra and two more highlights are:

2007 Virna Borgogno Barolo Preda Sarmassa: softer than their exotic Cannubi but very complete. What it lacks in freshness, it makes up for in lusciousness. ***

2007 Giuseppe Rinaldi Barolo Brunate-Le Coste: Another triumph for this producer. The wine is sensational. ***+

Disappointment alert: 2007 Marcarini Barolo Brunate-La Morra: What's up with this important property? They performed poorly at this event last year too.

And then, just like that, the Castiglione Fallettos start appearing in our (now very sticky and stained) glasses. This area proved harder to pin down than Barolo. Some are delicate, even brittle, while others are juicy and show great potential to develop into special wines. Not surprisingly, the best names in the appellation seem to have made the best wines. Remember what I said about Producer trumping real estate in 2007? Never is it more true than in Falletto. Watch out for overt greenness in some wines.

2007 Oddero Barolo Castiglione Falletto-La Morra: Balanced, fresh even, and, for an Oddero wine, pretty. ***

2007 Cascina Adelaide Barolo Pernanno: I am unfamiliar with this Cru but its juicy fruit and fine balance convince this tired, tipsy taster! ***

2007 Tenuta Montanello Barolo Montanello: Who? Balanced, fresh, nicely herbal. On the Burgundy side of life! ***

2007 Baroli Barolo Villero: Not been a fan of this wine of late but credit in 2007 where credit is due. Nice balance of brawn and balance. ***

2007 Cordero di Montezemolo Barolo 'Enrico VI' (Villero): Here comes the Murderer's Row of Villero 2007. Earthy, restrained and very, very deep, this also manages the 'gentle giant' role with a degree of finesse previously unseen in this lineup. ***+

2007 Oddero Barolo Villero: Again? More powerful than the Montezemolo with blood, iodine, ferrous and meat essences swirling within some great concentrated fruit. I know this one will age! ***+

2007 Cavallotto Barolo Tenuta Bricco Boschis: yeah, it's not as ripe as some and some might even call it a trifle green but you can't argue with the spot-on Barolo flavors that come pouring out: scorched earth, black tar bubbles, caraway seed.... ***

This endeth the tasting.

I am one taster among many. I grunt, groan and quibble about certain wines with my colleagues but I do my utmost not to be unduly influenced by their opinions, and there are many. After so many hundred (now literally thousands) of tasting notes on these wines over the past few vintages, I am confident I am tasting what I am tasting. But I should also note that we are not tasting blind and that when the big names get poured in your glass, you tend to give them the benefit of the doubt if they fall into your range of expectations.

Frankly, I think Oddero, Montezemolo and Rinaldi are three of the best properties in Barolo and I've made that opinion based solely on tasting a lot of their wines. I can forgive a little dry tannin in Oddero because I know how that tannin will probably evolve later in the wine's life. I am not willing to make that assumption with wines of which I am less familiar. So, take it for what it's worth. At PRIMA you will continue to be offered these blue chips (well, that is assuming I can patch things up with Rinaldi's importer) as well as whatever other wines I judge as being archetypes of Nebbiolo in any given vintage. It's an honor that you give me that trust.
And it's fun. (There, I admitted it)

After the tasting this morning, a small posse of us headed off to Barbaresco to visit the cellar and vineyards of Olek Bondonio. Olek is a former Italian national snowboard champion who returned to his family's holdings to make wine. His is a tiny operation but with Nebbiolo planted in Roncagliette, a.k.a. the upper part of what Angelo Gaja calls 'Sori Tildin,' he's got some great material to work with. Olek also showed us his Dolcetto/Barbera vineyard planted on the opposing Alba slope that affords one a magnificent view of the wavy curtain of Barbarsco that includes not only Rocagliette, Roncaglie, Sori Tildin, Sori San Lorenzo (just on the other side of the road of Tildin) and environs, you can also see Pertinace and the start of the Treiso vineyards. Though small by any measure, Bondonio is clearly a property on the rise, and the wines are super smooth and stylish. Olek, thanks to his connection at Castello di Verduno (his lovely wife is Executive Chef there), is also one of the very few non-Verduno producers making Pelaverga, the unique Gamay-Cabernet Franc-like grape native to the area. Keep an eye on things here!
The wines are good.

We buzzed back to Alba to catch the last half of an informative lecture on the geography and soil morphological differences between Barolo and Barbaresco. Coming as it did after basking in the warm sunshine of Barbaresco and tasting all those barrel samples, I have to confess that staying awake through the hypnotically monotone translation of the lecture was an impossibility.

But what happened afterwards was a total surprise. Some 30 people, including myself, had signed up to take a vineyard tour of Barbaresco with the area's foremost authority, Aldo Vacca of Produttori del Barbaresco. Vacca, thanks to his long association with the growers of the region, is a walking encyclopedia of the entire Barbaresco area. As he is, without question, the area's most important figure whose name is not Angelo Gaja, I thought the bus would be packed. Alas, only four of us turned up- two Italian journalists, Alex, a British wine consultant and myself. We ditched the bus and loaded ourselves into Aldo's little car for what turned out to be an incredible, private two-hour tour of the Barbaresco DOCG.

I've been lucky enough to have visited each of the three Barbaresco villages (Barbaresco, Tresio and Neive) any number of times but getting the perspective of the extremely knowledgeable and passionate Vacca really tied it together for me. For one thing, he noted, even though we say there are three Barbaresco villages, there is really a fourth: San Rocco Seno d’Elvio, an appendage that connects Barbaresco to Alba. The story goes that despite what would be the village's obvious connection via soil type and wine style to Barbaresco, back in the sixties when the appellation was first being drawn, the village mayor, due to some petty dispute with the mayor of Barbaresco, voted to keep his village out. Needless to say, this mayor does not have a statue of himself in San Rocco, as Nebbiolo from the Barbaresco DOCG fetches at least three times the price of San Rocco's Nebbiolo d'Alba. Only in Italy, right?

There was plenty else to see...Barbaresco, as a whole, is notable for its exposure to the cold winds and weather that rolls in from the north while the entire Barolo appellation is protected by the La Morra hill. This makes the area cooler and later ripening than its more famous brother- hence its reputation for more elegant, feminine wines. Neive, at the 'top' is the warmest and, predictably, produces the brawniest wines in the appellation, Barbaresco comes next and Treiso, the most exposed, traditionally produces the most delicate, if delicate is ever a word that can apply to Nebbiolo. It gets more complex as one adds in each individual vineyards exposure (or exposures), altitudes and soils: full-south facing vineyards like the side-by-side-by-side trio of Bernardot, Nervo and Rizzi in Treiso can create riper wines in a warm vintage than a more sheltered site like Ca'nova in Neive, so getting to know the real estate is very important.

I know that after two hours in the car with Aldo Vacca, I'll never look at my Masnaghetti map of the Barbaresco crus in the same way! And what can I say to the other 26 people who signed up for the Barbaresco tour and didn't show other than you were SOL, baby. That was the most valuable two hours I've ever spent in a car!

The Gaja Factor:
Gaja is the 400 pound gorilla in Barbaresco's living room. It would tough to argue that without him, the appellation would be just another Roero or Alba. Since taking over his father's property in the late seventies, Angelo has broken every rule, challenged every assumption and pushed the boundaries of every envelope. His vineyards in Barbaresco are immediately identifiable because he insisted on planting them vertically up the hills rather than across them, an orientation, he said, that improved exposure even at the risk of increased erosion, a big problem in the Langhe. The practice has since been outlawed.

While others created huge constituencies for the individual vineyards of Barbaresco, Gaja created fanciful names within the existing Crus he farmed so they would be considered his monopoles and unique to the Gaja brand. He became famous for his white wines as well as his red, and made Chardonnay a viable grape in Piemonte.

Rather than adhere to the appellation's directive to use only Nebbiolo in any wine labeled Barbaresco or Barolo, he simply withdrew, called his wine I.G.T., and still fetches triple digits while back-blending other grapes into his wines.
And they are still amongst the most compelling wines made anywhere in the world.
So, like him or not (and there are many in each camp and few in the middle), you have to respect Angelo Gaja and give him his due.

The Langa-In

The Langa-In is a group of like-minded small, artisan producers from throughout the Langhe who meet and taste regularly and work together to promote their products. Last year's Langa- In dinner was one of the highlights of my trip. The problem this year is that a few notable members of the group are not participating members (Scavino, Clerico, Conterno-Fantino and several other notables) of Albeisa, the consorzio behind Nebbiolo Prima, hence the event went basically unadvertised to the group. I heard about it word-of-mouth from good friend Chiara Boschis of Enrico Pira.

It turned out to be a great evening featuring a tasting by the group and a dinner following at Malvira in Roero. Since it was technically a night off, I didn't even bring my notebook, but the list of wines and wineries was impressive and I had a few highlights including the new 2010 Bricco Ciliegie Arneis (always a favorite), Chiara Boschis' 2004 Via Nuove Barolo, a great duo of wines from Conterno-Fantino, the new Gavarini from Elio Grasso and, of course, the amazing 2005 Pajana Barolo from Domenico Clerico. In fact, three of the four producers of Ginestra, my favorite vineyard in Monforte d'Alba, are represented within the group.

I should point out for Clerico fans that the indomitable Domenico is doing better in his recovery from brain surgery to remove a tumor and has finally gotten some much-needed help at the winery. Still, he has a giant unfinished construction project on his hands and, on top of that, I hear he's searching for a new importer in the United States. Clerico's modern masterpieces are amongst the most compelling wines made in the entire country of Italy and I am sincerely hoping he can find his way through his current difficulties.

The dinner at Malvira was good fun- the carne crudo 'shooters' were a highlight. One simply cannot have enough raw meat! My table included charismatic Italian journalist Carlo Macchi, a journalist from Rotterdam and a hotel colleague from Vienna as well as a table with two garrulous Japanese ladies who kept me going most of the evening.

Still, looking back at this day, it was very, very long!
And there's tomorrow to look forward to......

My Barbaresco Waterloo, May 10

May 10

My Barbaresco Waterloo

On every one of these trips there is a day of reckoning- where fatigue and jet lag combine with other circumstances to make it extremely long and trying.
Today was that day.
First of all there were sixty-some hot off the bottling line 2008 Barbareschis from Neive and Trieso to deal with.  Now, the 2007s tasted last year were disappointing for their excessive ripeness and boring homogeneity. The opposite was true, I think, in 2008, where the wines are much leaner, more attenuated and just plain a bloody chore to drink. In fact, for the first time at Nebbiolo Prima, I declined to take notes on some. The winemakers themselves very much like the vintage but they are either over-anxious to sell them or else deluding themselves.
These were tough wines to taste and evaluate- it was as hard a day as I've had tasting wine.  Yesterday's delicately balanced wines from Barbaresco became today's pushy, hard wines from Neive. Treiso, usually the source of the prettiest wines in the DOCG seemed not to fare any better.
This is not to say, of course, that you should entirely write off 2008 for Barabaresco- I may be proved totally wrong and the winemakers right if the wines fatten up and grow into their greenish tannins and high acids.  This isn't science, it's a sort of alchemy and, over the years, I've found Barbaresco harder to evaluate than virtually any other wine.
Still, as I say when I talk later about Barolo, choose producer over either vineyard or vintage and you probably won't go wrong. But read the notes first!

A word about the 2006 Riservae....we tasted about two dozen and I am hard pressed to make too many generalizations about them. Some still showed a fair bit of oak which only works as a complexing agent if there is enough backing fruit- that happened a few times but, on the whole, these were pretty severe wines too. I will reserve judgement until I see what happens to them once they are released. 2006 is a very fine vintage in Barbaresco but there is far less consensus as to what style Riserva should be....I do mention a few below.

It should also be noted that the day's session ended with six Baroli from Novello, my best being the juicy

2007 Abbona Marziano Terio Ravera and
2007 Elvio Cogno Ravera

In the meantime, here are a few  that I believed were the most promising of the day's haul:

2008 Ceretto Barbaresco Bricco Asili Bernardot: oaky, spicy and briary but also was one of the few where there was enough fruit to fill it out. Complete ***

2008 Francone Barbaresco I Patriarchi: burned earth,violets, spice, cherry confit....an extravagantly earthy wine from a producer new to me. ***

2008 Monteribaldi Barbaresco Palazzina: Another Neive wine that showed oak but had the fruit underneath to sustain the aggressive tannin. ***

2008 Oddero Barbaresco Gallina: tannic with ferrous and blood showing now, but really has the stuffing. This is becoming my favorite producer in the region as everything they do is consistently spot on.

2006 Castello di Verduno Barbaresco Rabaja Riserva: what's not to like here? Big, broad and polished. This winery is very good.

2006 Nada Giuseppe Barbaresco Casot Riserva: pretty and balanced, shows some oak but the fruit sustains it.


Following the tasting, with an eye towards regaining my fighting spirit for the Baroli to come, I declined the buffet lunch and had a pizza and a most-welcome beer with Michael, a mate who has been at Premier Cru in the East Bay nearly as long as I have been at PRIMA, and had a bit of a rest before driving over to Oddero in Santa Maria di La Morra for what proved to be the saving grace of the entire day, a vertical tasting of the Oddero's fantastic Baroli, including the transcendent 1964 that reminded me of why I make these sorts of exhaustive forays in the first place.

The Odderos (currently run by Mariacristina and her niece Mariavittoria, though papa Alberto is still active) have been making fabulous wines from their Santa Maria property since 1878.  Their's is an impressive estate making not only Barolo from their home Pieve Santa Maria property but they also own vines in Roggeri and Brunate (the highest part) in La Morra and several other important sites, notably Bussia Soprana, Villero and Vignarionda. We sat down in their beautifully rustic cantina (Cristina's decorative flourishes are everywhere) to a flight of wines meant to show the Oddero style, one that remains consistent (iron fist in an iron fist?) throughout a most varied group of vineyards:

2007 Oddero Barolo: A beautiful 2007 that shows juicy freshness and lovely pure fruit. Not sure of the price yet but it will be a hero in our restaurant.

1997 Oddero Barolo Mondoca di Bussia Soprana (magnum): a show-stopper that just gushed cherry-confit but shows the Oddero's very structured side as well. Hold longer if you can.

1978 Oddero Barolo: Still a powerhouse....they didn't bottle single vineyard wines in those days and this is the best of everything, iodine, tar, violets......

1964 Oddero Barolo: I don't 'rate' wines but this was as close to a 100 point Barolo as I've ever had! Perfectly mature, immaculately balanced, soft (but still with lively tannin) with all kinds of exotic and alluring things going on!

Dinner was, well, odd.  The group had been arbitrarily broken up into dinners at various spots around the area and while some dined much closer, I drew a shorter straw and joined a score of assorted German journalists at I Cacciatori, a very traditional osteria in Monteu Roero, some 40 minutes away. I am not complaining, by the way, and the most bland food in Piemonte is still pretty damned good, but I found myself in a narrow, very pink, room with all Italian speakers, including a fluent-Italian speaking Japanese journalist who refused to help me out when I asked him in Japanese to help me communicate something I wanted to say in Italian. In any event, the food was perfunctory (delicate zucchini flowers baked into a bland fritttata, Spinach and Castelmagno Risotto, Stinco di Vitello) the wine much so as well, and that lethal combination of a long day, jet lag and frustration really set in. It was only when I went to the bathroom towards the end of the meal that I discovered a small group of American confederates from my group stashed in another dining room. They had been there the whole time! Anyway, I was happy for Tuesday to end, take another Ambien and root for the 2007 Baroli to rock my world.     

Piemonte Spring 2011

Getting there is no longer as much fun as being there. In other words, flying in the twenty-first century pretty much sucks. Both of my legs fortunately went as planned and the first SFO-NYC Saturday afternoon was enlivened by sitting next to a very interesting software developer who seemed to know something about everything, and was packing not one, but two fully-loaded I-pads! One was for his mother-in-law in Helsinki, where he was bound.
It seems like months ago when in fact it was only hours- the first hours of what is proving to be a very, very long day. By the time I hit Milano, it was 8 AM Sunday, our time, and I still had the whole day ahead of me. A good part of it was spent in my little Fiat Punto-a little vacuum cleaner canister of a car with virtually no power. It has nonetheless endeared itself to me because it has a connection on its radio for my I-pad. This allowed me to make the Milano-Alba connection in just under two hours with Porcupine Tree at pain level volume!
Of course this is Italy so nothing is ever quite straight forward. I coasted into the Giro di Italia bike race in Alba and found the city center guarded by some thousand florescent orange clad Carabinieri, one of whom simply shrugged when I suggested he let me through his roadblock to get to my hotel. I turned around and, instead, headed towards La Morra, much to the chagrin of the English gentleman I dubbed 'Belamey' living inside my GPS. "Please turn around," he repeatedly implored as I headed away from the Alba hotel destination he had so painstakingly mapped out for me. We learned to get along.
The first person I saw in La Morra was Giorgio Rivetti who just happened to be taking his gorgeous little daughter Lidia into the market as I motored by. Rather than disturb this placid domestic scene, I just rolled down the window, said hi, shook hands and made our promises for dinner tomorrow.
Seems like I always randomly meet someone in La Morra.
I ate lunch in the same osteria I visited last year- good but simple food and some great esoteric wines from local producers. I washed my Lingua con Salsa Diavalo down with a glass of Bongiovanni Arneis (perfect with creeping jet lag) and the Asparagus in Parmigiano Crema and rustic hand-cut pasta with Zucchini and Tomatoes went down with a bottle of Scarpa Barbera d'Asti, most of which I left for the staff, the stylishly insouciant smoking girl with the big sunglasses and the posse of Sunday bikers that turned up while I was there.
Once I checked into the Hotel Calissano (**** great location, brand spanking new and highly recommended) I thought a thirty minute nap would knock the cobwebs loose. But if a thirty minute map works...a three-hour nap must be even better. What luxury. I hope my wife doesn't read this because I have a hard enough time convincing her I am working over here and a three hour nap- hell, I don't remember the last time.
Anyway, a quick shower later, I rolled down to the annual Nebbiolo Prima kick off party, this year held in the square in the shadow of Alba's duomo, a ten-minute walk through Alba's old city from the hotel. All of the producers were there as were all of the attendees. This event is sort of when you scope out who's here and who isn't, and the lineup looks much similar to last year's with some interesting and fun additions...like the two stunning women wine shop owners from Warsaw! The event basically consists of a group of buyers (restaurateurs, retailers, somms) and journalists (bloggers, writers, etc.) from all over the world. For whatever reason, the buyers and journalists are kept apart (who will contaminate who, I wonder?) and mix only at parties like this one, one or two of the dinners, and at the Grand Finale.
And there's this American named George Tita who has a fledgling import business and, even though there is virtually no importer presence at this event, he annually insinuates himself onto the event's fringes, turning up all the time at any event where we buyers are likely to appear. This year he managed to gather eight or so of us together for an impromptu dinner at Castello di Verduno in the town of Verduno, about ten minutes from the back side of La Morra. I went because I've always been interested in the wines of Verduno and this producer in particular. The dinner featured wines from three of his Piemonte producers: Olek Bondonio, Andrea Cortese and Cascina San Martino. First of all, the food was delicious. Olek's wife is the Exec here with a grand reputation in the Slow Food movement. She turned out not only a wonderful Vitello Crudo (packed in salt for three days and sliced apparently) but also the best Tajarin al Sugo (secret is the Bra Sausage, I am told) I've tasted to date- and believe me, I've had a few versions.
The wines were the particularly pleasant surprise: Olek's 2007 Barbaresco Roncagliete (the highest spot of what is also Gaja's Sori Tildin) was polished and deep, especially for a 2007, and Davide's Cascina S. Martino's 1998 and 1996 Barolo Rue (think Chiara Boschis' Via Nouve as far as geography goes) were head turning- the 1996 still on the upswing and the 1998 perfectly balanced.
Well, I'm toast. Ambien willing, I'll get a few hours tonight and tomorrow the real work begins.

Monday, May 9

What a difference a year makes...in several respects. The organizers of Nebbiolo Prima listened to several criticisms of last year's event, notably the one about the deluge of tasting wines in each sitting, and made significant changes; foremost was reducing the daily number of wines consumed by a third and adding a fifth session. That made this morning's foray into the 2008 Roero, 2008 Barbaresco and 2007 Barbaresco Riseva wines far easier to survive. Also the passing of a year has meant that the high alcohol- low acid wines of 2007 have been replaced by the super fresh 2008s, a definitely refreshing stylistic change.

While 2008 cannot be considered an 'important' vintage in the greater pantheon of Piemontese wines, their high acids and fresh flavors do mean that over the short and mid terms, they will be good drinkers....they're just not ready yet. As for the 2007 Riservae, they aren't much more exciting than last year's Normale: even worse, because they were the ripest, most powerful wines in their cellars, the 2007 Riservae and even bigger and more unwieldy than their Normale cousins! Again, I am painting with far too broad a brush, but with 60+ wines under my belt, that's what I am seeing so far.

My notes fell into several distinct subcategories based on the ripeness parameters of the grapes that made the wine. Some, harvested at a little lower sugar, predictably had great fresh acidity and were noted as 'higher toned', 'pomegranate' and 'woodsy.' Others were 'warmer' 'seedy' (think fennel and cardamom) and were a little more 'vinous.' The third category carried more sweetness and I wrote for several 'marzipan' or 'maple sugar', 'cherry confit' and 'pliant.' What unified the 2008s I tasted were nice- if sometimes greenish- tannins, lively acids and decent concentrations of fruit that rarely strayed into the domineering sweetness of the 2007s. In fact, I would have to say that the vintage falls, in a good way, in a narrower bandwidth of styles and flavors. Roero is still far less consistent than Barbaresco and the sizable gap in raw material is still as significant as the experience factor. Here is a list of my favorites from the day:

2008 Cascina Chicco Roero Montespinato: warmer clay nose, vinous pomegranate and cherry, spicy and good.***

2008 Cascina Val del Prete Roero: chocolate mint nose, warm marzipan- maple. Well balanced (nice job Mario!) ***

2008 Renato Buganza Roero Bric Paradis: both Buganza wines were good but I give the nod to this one because I love the name of the cru. Woodsy spice, warm, low toned but also bright and fresh. (new producer for me) ***

2008 Cascina Chicco Roero Valmaggiore: the only Valmaggiore in the tasting really showed its stuff. herb tea, woodsy, putty/earth, really great balance makes it a seamless drink. ***+

disappointment alert: 2008 Matteo Correggia Roero Roche d'Ampsej: this usually reliable wine was marred by woody Bourbon barrel extract and a charry essence.

2007 Monchiero Carbone Roero Riverva Printi: oaky for sure but better integrated, a rich, powerful Roero that keeps its balance even after turning tannic on the finish. ***

2008 Massimo Penna Barbaresco Sori Sartu: oaky, spicy nose, really pretty sweet cherry confit fruit that has a fresh, lithe feel to it. This was the first Barbaresco in the tasting and served to highlight the gap with Roero. ***

2008 Produttori del Barbaresco: sure, it's commercial but it's also damned good, a relative powerhouse with juicy, very clean fruit and a plush texture that takes you to bunch of silky tannins. Liquid smoke and vanilla wood tannin too. Hard not to like. ***+

2008 Cascina Morasino Barbaresco Ovello: the black label not to be confused with their Normale which scored among my lowest, this shows textbook Nebbiolo blood, mineral and truffle character. Balanced and filled with nice cherry fruit. ***

2008 Montaribaldi Barbaresco Sori Montaribaldi: impressive for the way it marries its not inconsiderable new oak into the texture, big and sweet but also real well balanced. ***

An Afternoon Tasting of 2001 Piemontese reds:

The 2001 vintage is considered to be 'important', one of the best in the long string of successes going back to 1995. Barolo winemakers like to say that their Nebbiolo is at its best at ten years, so this was our chance to see how the vintage was faring at a decade from harvest. The verdict? It was a great harvest that yielded many great wines, but whether or not ten years is the best time to drink then depends strictly on the wine, and not particularly in the way you might think, as many so-called Old School classics from the vintage showed surprising age and many New School wines were still surprisingly youthful and primary....here were some notable wines of the 36 I managed to taste:

2001 Mario Marengo Barolo Brunate: simply my favorite. Fresh, zingy and filled with youthful cherry confit and violet-scented fruit. Yummy.

2001 Bartolo Mascarello Barolo (magnum): I expected this to be backwards and tannic so imagine my shock when it turned out be perfectly mature with complex briary flavors.

2001 Giuseppe Rinaldi Barolo Brunate/Le Coste: same here plus a bit of iodine and truffle. Nice, gorgeous even but if tasted blind, I would have guessed a lot older.

2001 Oddero Barolo Bussia Soprana Mondoca: elegant, even pretty but still with an iron fist

2001 Giuseppe Mascarello Barolo Monprivato: this was perfectly mature. great color, resolved tannins and powerfully complex.

2001 E Pira Chiara Boschis Barolo Cannubi: sweet, briary and also perfectly ready

2001 Prunotto Barolo Bussia: powerful and still young with a big mouthfeel and tannins that promise another ten years.

2001 Monchiero Carbone Roero Riserva Printi: dark, pungent and still awkward.

2001 Monchiero Carbone Barbera d'Alba Ochetti: surprise! Still dark and sweet!

2001 Moccagatta Barbaresco Bric Balin: an explosion of ripe cherries and other dark fruits. Wa'ay young!

2001 Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco Riserva: monolithic...completely shut down.

My Dinner With Giorgio

I saw another side of Giorgio on this trip. The lights of his life are beautiful Lidia and also, now just a year old, Giorgina.  The winery-resdience compound they share near Ginzane-Cavour is littered with bikes, toys and games. After an aperitivo and photo session with Lidia's Barbi camera/video he Giorgio asks, "Should we get a pizza here in Gallo or......I know a place that's a bit of a drive but....." duh. Last time Giorgio took me on a drive, it was almost three hours to Bibbona Marina and La Pineta, the best seafood I think I've ever eaten! Let's skip the pizza, I said. On the way to dinner, he also showed me the freshly dug furrows in the vineyards he's been making with his horse and plow.  He says he reflects on his father and his roots while pushing his plow- it's a way for him to better understand the land- and stay physically active. Still, he is Giorgio Rivetti and it wasn't long before the conversation turned to food and wine.  Antica Corona Reale turns out to be Michelin ** near Bra and well worth the (only) half hour drive.  Run by Renzo and his family for many years, it earned its stars for its very traditional, earthy cooking. No one ever got a star in Italy for their trippa and fiancier says Giorgio, until this place.  Renzo's son has just completed a major renovation, creating a new patio where guests can enjoy aperitivi and sparkling wine before dining in one of three beautiful dining rooms. Located right off the one of those outskirt streets every town has....the used car lots, small factories and such....you'd never guess this oasis even existed.
This was one of those meals you don't soon forget. After three little plates and a glass of  sparkling outside, we dined on an enormous copper bowl of snails stewed in garlic and herbs, fiancier (cockscomb and a great number of other parts, the best agnoloti dal plin I've ever had (sorry Eric) and pieces of goat roasted on a spit, as well as a hazelnut-chocolate dessert that blew my mind even though I could only eat a bit of it.

Did i mention wine? We had some....a 2007 Henri Boillot Puligny and Giorgio's as not yet labeled but already delicious 2007 Barolo Campe.  In our small dining room there was another couple (the husband an annoying guy who sent back his frog's legs because they were too skinny (Chef asked if he should have bought them in China where they have fatter legs) who recognized Giorgio and went from being a total dick to a gooey, obsequious asshole in seconds and, then,  three enormously tall members of the Italian national championship volleyball team from Cuneo, and five other assorted coaches and girlfriends, all of whom recognized Giorgio too, and insisted that we help them with their 2005 Rivetti- La Spinetta Barbaresco. 
Giorgio and I have a lot in common....except that I don't have a giant international wine empire...and it was wonderful to have so relaxed an evening...even if it was shared with some gregarious 6'10" volleyball players.