Belated notes from September 12th, 2006.
Bruno Giacosa Barbaresco Rabajà 1998
Thanks to Oliver. Bottle-# 4576 of 6846. Mauro Mascarello once said: „The reality is that if you’re going to make a single-vineyard Barolo you need a plot that can give you all three elements - perfume, fruit and structure - and there aren’t too many sites where that is possible.“ This is, of course, basically true of any wine, anywhere. Rabajà has always been recognised by the local cognoscenti as one of the finest Barbaresco vineyards of all. Unfortunately, finding an example that would demonstrate the superiority of its terroir used to be difficult. This was the first I ever had whose aroma and flavour profile shows unmistakable individuality – and an attractive one at that! Deep ruby. Fennel, anise, hugely sweet and thick fruit, rose-hip as if preserved in alcohol, raspberry coulis, faint tar. More fruit density than (fine!) concentration, medium-plus baby fat on its bones. Good body. Lush, barely dry and quite finely-grained tannin. Nicely full-bodied and powerful finish. A beautiful 1998. As Oliver said, this white label bottling indeed does not quite have the raw materials, grip and structure of a Riserva – this was when he told us about a barrel sample of the 2001, wetting our appetite for more and yet greater Rabajà. Rating: 93(+?)
Foucault Clos Rougeard Saumur-Champigny Le Bourg 1996
A bottle I “sacrificed” to do Oliver a favour. I am still hoping this wine will open up and show at least some tertiary characteristics at the age of fifteen; Albino insists it will take much longer to enter its plateau of maturity. It is, to avoid misunderstanding, so well-balanced that it will seem approachable at any stage of its development. Little change since release, other than that it now seems to have completely absorbed its new oak. Deep purple-ruby-black, opaque at the center. Graphite, blackcurrant, a leafy Cabernet Franc note. Deep and complex, but takes some airing until the concentration, sweetness and fruit density become more apparent. Shiraz-like violet and Burgundian meat juice and spice top notes. A touch of iodine with prolonged airing. Nice body. Long, balanced finish. With bottle age, the Le Bourg may develop even greater glyceric oiliness, smoothness and opulence than the (quite ageworthy) Les Poyeux already has. Its potential harmony is most promising, the combination of ripeness (especially also the tannin’s) and freshness and precision of this vintage the stuff of legends. Needless to emphasize perhaps, there is sufficient size to this wine – the comparison may sound far-fetched, but in terms of balance, structure and weight this reminded me of the 1985 Sassicaia this time, only that the 1996 Le Bourg may turn out to be bigger, thicker and sweeter. How glad I am I bought some of this years before French wine critic Michel Bettane, in his retrospective view of the wines of the twentieth century (in La Revue du Vin de France) decided to list this as the greatest ever in the red Loire category. Rating: 97+
Greetings from Switzerland, David.