WTN: 2004 Barolo and Barbaresco

I am in a Nebbiolo phase at present. I know very well when it started - precisely two years ago, when I visited Piemonte for the first time, and fell in love, with the wines, with the people, with the food, with the wines, and also the vintage that is the subject of this tasting. If you have yet to discover and understand the pleasure and charm of Nebbiolo wines, there is no better way for you than to get there, meet the producers, taste their wines, go to the restaurants and find the perfect match between the regional food and the local wines. If this does not help, I fear you are only to be regretted and you had better console yourself with something full bodied, fruit-forward from the New World. Probably the Old World is not meant for you.

For the devotees of Nebbiolo wines, the character of the 2004 vintage is simply the utmost charming expression of the fragrance of Nebbiolo. The cool nights during the period before the harvest brought forward the ethereal perfume of the grape that can be described as roses, violets and spearmint. The acidities are fresh and juicy and the dreaded tannins are indeed pronounced, as they should be, but also sandy and fine grained. Simply a most charming vintage, but by no means lacking in depth, complexity or length. Further good news is that while 2005 was a bit more troublesome, it seems that 2006, 2007 and 2008 is a string of fine vintages, though I have yet to taste much form then and can't speak from any deep personal experience yet.

The fragrant charm of the '04s made them immediately appealing at release and I felt it would be time to check if they by now had lost much of this youthful charm and become closed or if this is a vintage when the wines will keep on being perfectly drinkable, without any tendencies of entering any tunnel. So, A collection of eight wines were presented to the members of AuZone - the wine society, and I was thrilled to here their verdict, as well as tasting the wines myself, of course.

The lineup:

BeB.jpg

2004 Vanotu, Barbaresco, Pelissero
Medium deep, beautiful red colour.
Fine, aromatic, floral nose with lots of mint and touch of meatiness starting to emerge. A note of cookie dough, that might be the result of aging in new wood. Utterly charming.
Fresh and dense, chewable attack. Lovely acidity. Tight and rather closed taste with good concentration. Quite massive, but fine grained, chalky tannins, giving a bit dry aftertaste. Still charming, but definitely with more to give in the future. 17p Group's shared second wine.

2004 Vigneto Arborina, Barolo, Elio Altare
Deep, dark red.
Aromatic fresh, deep sweet red fruit. Some tasty oak in the background. Cherries, lilacs and mint.
Fres, slightly sweet attack. Smoky, dark and tight taste. Marvelously concentrated dark fruit. Massive tannins that are nicely embedded in the thick, deep fruit. Long, deep, but rather closed and dry aftertaste. A wine that is less fragrant than the others. Built for the long run. Extremely classy but needs time. 16p now, will be much better.

2004 Romirasco, Barolo, Aldo Conterno
Medium deep red with a slight orange tinge on the rim.
Full bodied and very deep nose with pure dark fruit - cherries and even some black currants. Smokey wood notes, almost a bit hard and stony.
Fine, charming attack with charming notes of cookie dough and burned sugar. Fine acidity and good fruit. The tannins are fine grained and chalk, giving a great mouthfeel. Broad and charming mid palate with a feeling of warmth. Long, smokey and most chewable aftertaste. Very good! 18 p
Again I was fooled (as many others have been) by the apparent notes of new wood in Aldo Conterno's Barolos, but the Conterno family insist that these wines only see old large casks, so I feel I have to believe them.

2004 Tortoniano, Barolo, Michele Chiarlo
Light red/orange
Unclean nose with hints of old socks. Lack of fruit and aromatics, also in the bitter and quite mean taste. This wine was deemed to be defect and was replaced by:

2004 Sorì Paitin, Barbaresco, Paitin
Rather deep red colour with just a hint of orange on the rim.
Deep, fine nose with lots of aromatic notes of roses and spearmint backed by a gamey meatiness and some forest notes. Dark, red blood orange fruit.
Fresh, clean and aromatic attack. Extremely clean, fresh, juicy and minty fruit. Concentrated. Fine grained, sandy tannins. Dryish and a bit tough aftertaste. Needs time. 16p, more anticipated in the future. A great replacement wine, indeed!

2004 Conca, Barolo, Renato Ratti
Medium deep red.
Deep but elegant and utterly charming nose. Roses and spearmint. Simply so very much Nebbiolo! Good depth. Some meatiness emerging in the background and also a spicy hint of cardamom.
Fresh, juicy attack with clean fruit. Fine acidity and a lovely, deep, dark fruit. Some bitterness and rather massive, but again fine grained tannins. Massive, fiery, long and smokey aftertaste. A tough wine, but with a certain charm and very high quality. 17p, Group's winner.

2004 Vigna Rionda, Barolo, Roanda
Light red. Pale, slightly orange rim.
Fine tuned nose with rather shitty, animal notes and a rather strange sweet-sour fruit and some oxidative notes of fried apples.
Fresh, smokey attack with nice old-fashioned Nebbiolo notes. Some roundness and warmth. Distinctly dry and chewable tannins that gives a long, dry aftertaste with some smoke lingering. This is definitely old style wine making, and quite a bit controversial! 16p Group's looser.

2004 Bric Balin, Barbaresco, Moccagatta
Medium deep, beautiful red-orange colour.
Full, almost voluptuous nose with cookie dough and charm. Ripe aromatic fruit and mint. A most typical and charming Nebbiolo in a much more modern style than the preceding wine.
Fresh and clean fruit in the attack. Fine juicy acidity and good intensity. Smoke and charm. Pronounced, fine grained tannins with a great mouthfeel. Very long, smokey and chewable aftertaste. A most charming expression of Nebbiolo. My winner, 18.5p

2004 Gavarini Chiniera, Barolo, Elio Grasso
Medium deep red.
Fresh, flowery and minty. Busting with red fruits like cherries and red currants. Good depth. Maybe a touch closed.
Fresh, thick, massive and chewable on the palate. Sweet fruit. Clean and concentrated, but seems to be a bit closed at present, giving the impression that it could offer more dimensions. Very nicely structured almost furry tannins. Long, fiery, astringent aftertaste. Needs more time. 17p

Cheers,
Anders

Anders
Ta for this - interestingly perhaps, November issue of Decanter has a review of 2005 Barolos (and some comments on 2006 vintage as well). FWIW the gist was 2001 and 2004 were better vintages than 2005/6 with timing of picking crucial in 2005, due to vintage rains where they (in general) did better if they picked before the 10 days of rain arrived. The net result they said, was quite wide variation in quality.

n.b. I was somewhat reassured that there seemed a bit more balance to the articles in Decanter (vs. last time I read it). Not the fulsome glowing praise in each article that I recall from 2-3 years ago. Still not especially critical mind, but for me a distinct improvement.

regards

Ian

Thanks, Anders! Marcia and I are going to be there in the first week of November, also for the first time, and we're very excited. I booked ten visits, one for every weekday morning and afternoon, a mix of old-style and new. It will be fun to write a report.

Lucky bastards, Oswaldo and Marcia! I envy you and know you will have a great time. I long for your report.
/A

Thanks for the TNs and observations, Anders. One footnote I might add is that while I have not yet tasted a Barolo or Barbaresco from 2004, I've loved several different Nebbiolo di Alba from that vintage, all displaying the charms you describe so well. I'm in a bit of Nebbiolo fog (ahem) myself these days.

***sigh***

Thanks for making me feel even worse on a rainy Oregon Friday, Anders.

First because it sounds like such a wonderful tasting of some of my favorites (producers, DOCs, variety), and second because it reminded me of the debacle of my trying to rendezvous in the Piedmont last April.

Seriously, though: great tasting and great notes. When I get over my depression I'm sure I will enjoy it even more.

Amazing lineup Anders, thanks for the notes.

Lovely mouth-watering report, Anders. It is my impression that the 2004 entry level Barolos (or should it be Baroli?) are very good indeed but I haven't had the opportunity of tasting many top crus, like your line-up.

Wonderful notes, Anders, thank you. I haven't had a chance to try Roagna's wine from Rionda yet (I think this is only the 2nd or 3rd release from there) but I really like Luca's barolo from La Rocca e La Pira and his Paje' barbaresco. That Rionda sure sounds odd, particularly the oxidative notes

I haven't had a chance to try Roagna's wine from Rionda yet

Please let us know if you get to taste it, Bill. It would be most interesting to hear your view of it. There has been quite a fuzz about this wine among the bloggers , both here in Sweden and in Norway.
I have the La Rocca e La Pira in my cellar, but haven't tried it yet. Their 2001 Langhe Rosso has been one of my favourite this summer, though. My notes are here.
/A

***sigh***
Thanks for making me feel even worse on a rainy Oregon Friday, Anders.

Sorry for that, Hoke! I hope the rain is gone and you are feeling better now.
/A

Thanks for the kind words, all of you. Please do let us know if you come to taste any 2004s from Barolo or Barbaresco yourselves. It is always nice to read other tasters view of your favourite wines.
/A

Anders
Will do, though having missed the Barbaresco wine festival for the last two years, I missed our best route to getting a view on the vintage.
regards
Ian

Well, Ian, I certainly wouldn't mind getting your view on the following vintages too, in particular from 2006 and on. The ones from 2005 I have tasted has not impressed me much.
/A

Well, Ian, I certainly wouldn't mind getting your view on the following vintages too, in particular from 2006 and on. The ones from 2005 I have tasted has not impressed me much.
/A

Hej Anders,

I always attend the "Barbaresco a Tavola", great event. Each year at 3 restaurants the wines are served blind, I attended this blindtasting in May, great fun.
This is the list from the tasting, you will have the list when you have tasted all the wines. All Barbaresco 2006, I prefered the 2005 vintage



Ciao
Birger

We arrived in Alba last night and found the city center quite charming, full of truffle stands. Had an excellent dinner at the Enoclub (wine was the 01 Massolino Vigna Rionda). Today we begin a series of ten winery visits, one per morning and afternoon. Will write a full report as we go along and post it after we return to Sao Paulo.

I often dream of the beautiful Fall drive out of Bra' past Pollenzo (and the walls of Carlo Alberto's hunting preserve) then across the Tanaro river (where the road starts to wind up-hill) into and past Verduno (where, at Castello Re Alberto, the Burlotto sisters cook traditional food and produce excellent traditional wines) and off to heaven: La Morra, Barolo, and up into Monforte!

Anduma!

marco

Oswaldo
Very much looking forward to your thoughts!
Some good wine shops as well in Alba and prices can be attractive (not always the case in popular wine regions). Do make good use of the tourist office in Alba as well - they're very efficient, despite being chronically overworked at this time of year.

I hope you enjoy the various evening events in Alba - including that most Italian of entertainments, the seemingly obligatory flag throwing.

regards

Ian

We arrived in Alba last night and found the city center quite charming, full of truffle stands. Had an excellent dinner at the Enoclub (wine was the 01 Massolino Vigna Rionda). Today we begin a series of ten winery visits, one per morning and afternoon. Will write a full report as we go along and post it after we return to Sao Paulo.

Hi Oswaldo,

Welcome to paradise

Looking forward to your report.

Any luck with the suggestion I gave you?

Ciao
Birger

Had a good day today, with a decent enough visit to Ceretto in the morning and a great session with Mauro Mascarello and his mother, Maria Teresa, at Giuseppe Mascarello this afternoon. At Mascarello we tasted ten wines, all excellent.

Ian, indeed, I was favorably surprised by the prices at some stores. I am using Produttori crus to compare prices, since they seem well distributed. Will probably spring for a bottle of Cappellano's ungrafted Barolo, prohibitive elsewhere, and maybe some Giacosa and Rinaldi. Also the Moccagatta Anders liked so much, if I can find it.

Birger, I wrote to info@davidepalluda.it on the 22nd and again on the 29th. No answer.

Marco, it was rainy and foggy today, but things will improve considerably tomorrow. Even so, the colors of the Fall foliage on the vines are quite stunning, even in the mist.

Birger, I wrote to info@davidepalluda.it on the 22nd and again on the 29th. No answer.

Hi Oswaldo,

That is strange, try to go there and make an reservation, only a 15-20 min. drive from Alba.
They are open from 11.30 but you need to ring the bell. Ask for Ivana or Davide, tell them you know me. Or call them at +0173-95857 you need the 0 in front when you are in Italy.

Ciao
Birger

Birger, that sounds like a great event. Any favourites from when you took this tour previous years?
/Anders

Oswaldo, I'm glad you are having such a good time, though it would indeed take some effort not to...
If you can, keep your short messages coming, to keep us satisfied with at least a touch of Piemonte until we will be able to indulge in your report. And good luck finding that Moccagatta.
Ciao
Anders

Birger, that sounds like a great event. Any favourites from when you took this tour previous years?
/Anders

Hi Anders,

It is, always the 3 last Fridays in May at several restaurants in the Barbaresco zone.

I attended for the first time in May 2005 when the 2002 vintage was presented. I have been there 5 times now, great fun and several wineproducers attend the dinner as well. In 2005 I was invited by Andrea Sottimano to the event in Bottega 4 Vini in Neive. Clerico was special guest but also Moccagatta, Ugo, the opera singing producer from Cascina del Brichetto etc. All the producers has old vintages with them and I had to sleep in the car as I had a 45 min. drive to my room

Ciao
Birger