WTN: A 2000 Barolo on fine form

Galloni's recent judgement - "Today the 2000s are largely fading....Both of those vintages are defined by what I consider to be the kiss of death for long-lived, elegant Barolo -- a harvest under excessively hot temperatures, particularly at night."- gave rise to an interesting thread here, to which I did not contribute because I only have one Barolo from that year in my cellar (3 bottles before opening this one). However, I made a mental note to open one soon, so here goes.

Barolo Rocche 2000 - Aurelio Settimo, La Morra - Alc.14%. Colour was not very deep but bricking was limited. The nose was very expressive with floral (rose, violet), mineral, tar and liquorice components (empty bottle still fragrant 2 days after opening). The palate was medium/full bodied and classically shaped with crescendo toward the finish and then gentle quite long dimenuendo with good depth and quite intense flavours similar to those from the nose coupled an attractive matt texture, very lively acidity and still marked but non-astringent tannic structure. I could not detect any oak flavours or patina at all, a plus for me. There are no signs of decay here (if this is it, give me more ) but perhaps the wine was more expressive than most Barolo in its 11th year from a classical vintage. No hurry to drink the remaining two bottles, then; 17/20.

I enjoyed this estate's basic Barolo and Rocche from 1993, IMO an under-rated vintage, but otherwise know little about it. I would judge the style to be "traditionalist" and this seems to be confirmed by the website http://217.73.237.195/newversion/inserz ... 3&lingua=2 .

[David M. Bueker]

Antonio did quite a bit of equivocation when he was called on his statements. Of course none of us cellar the wines that are prone to fading.

Thanks for notes.
I'm with you on '93 as an underrated vintage.