WTN: 2004 Barolo and Barbaresco

This year's dinner, on Friday, will be dedicated to 2005 Barolos. The lineup features some well-known names, but not the very finest, for the most part. Should be a highly tannic affair. We leave for Torino on Friday afternoon, so no temptation.

Last night we had dinner at the Osteria dell'Arco, "known wine maker hangout," and splurged on the truffle tasting menu. Quite good, but not memorable. Wine was the 1999 Moccagatta Basarin, also quite good, but not memorable (still a bit young). Today the weather cleared up completely and it became gloriously sunny, followed by a clear evening, bathed in a luminous full moon. The morning appointment was with Maria Teresa Mascarello, who was very welcoming, gave us a tour of the small is beautiful facilities, and had us taste a Freisa, a lovely Barbera and the current (05) Barolo, still a bit hostile. Had a simple lunch in Barolo, and in the afternoon we spent three and a half hours with Giacomo Conterno, son of Aldo Conterno, who opened six bottles for us, their Chardonnay, their Barbera, their regular 05 Barolo and their three crus, 05 Collonello, 05 Cicala and 04 Romirasco. The latter two were absolutely terrific. Piedmont is looking more and more like Burgundy. Lots of differences, of course, but uncanny similarities. More to follow in the report!

Oswaldo
Do you need any recomendations for Torino? Just shout if there's anything you're looking for.
regards
Ian

Oswaldo, I can well understand that you had a good time with Giacomo Conterno, since we had exactly the same experience when we visited the Aldo Conterno estate in 2007. He is a generous and very informative person. I'm glad you liked the 2004 Romirasco, which I also had at my tasting and where it was one of my top wines. Did you have any discussion with Giacomo about the apparent smell of oak in their non-oaked Baroli?
Keep on having fun,
Anders

Oswaldo
Do you need any recomendations for Torino? Just shout if there's anything you're looking for.
regards
Ian

Thanks, Ian! We're having lunch at Combal.Zero on Saturday, but may go on a fast in Torino, other than that, since we've been disgustingly profilgate so far. We just got back from dinner at Piazza Duomo, awesome, with a terrific wine list, including fine by the glass selections, but feel ready to be taken home on a stretcher...

Oswaldo, I can well understand that you had a good time with Giacomo Conterno, since we had exactly the same experience when we visited the Aldo Conterno estate in 2007. He is a generous and very informative person. I'm glad you liked the 2004 Romirasco, which I also had at my tasting and where it was one of my top wines. Did you have any discussion with Giacomo about the apparent smell of oak in their non-oaked Baroli?
Keep on having fun,
Anders

Glad to hear we shared similar experiences, next best thing to doing it together. I didn't like the oakiness and supermaturity of the Bussiador chardonnay and found the winery a bit bipolar as far as new barriques v. older bottis - only new barriques for Chardonnay and non-Barolo reds, and only big Slavonian oak barrels (around seven years old) for Barolos. So they are technically oaked, though supposedly only for natural microoxigention, not flavoring. At Bartolo Mascarello I saw exactly the same botti, from the same maker in the Veneto, with similar age appearance. But, no, I didn't have that discussion directly, since there was no particular sense of oakiness in the Barolos we tasted. But I did taste a lot of oak in the 01 Massolino Vigna Rionda that Otto liked so much, so go figure...

At the end of every visit, I am gathering some systematic information about yeasts, whole clusters, fermentation, maceration, temperature control, new v. old oak, barriques v. botti, fining, filtration, SO2 at bottling, yield per hectare, and clonal v. massale selection. By the end I should have a nice idea of current practices, at least among my sample, which is pretty diverse.

So, Marcia and I got home yesterday from the trip. It was pretty grueling - we visited 11 producers in 5 days - but also fun and extremely informative. It will take me a few days to put together a comprehensive trip report, focusing on the human interchange and the technical/informational aspects, which I think will be more entertaining and useful than the tasting notes, which I'll structure as footnotes to avoid interrupting the narrative.

Oswaldo,

I'm looking forward to your notes, reports, and viewpoints as I'm beginning to gather information for a trip next year.

RC

A few producers use both large wood and barriques, consecutively, and might be more apt to talk about one type of barrel more than the other, if you know what I mean.

A few producers use both large wood and barriques, consecutively, and might be more apt to talk about one type of barrel more than the other, if you know what I mean.

Yup, I did my best to discriminate. Some are bipolar, using botti for barolo but barique for everything else...

Hi Oswaldo,

Looking forward to it.

Ciao
Birger