There’s been plenty of discussion on the board lately about Piemonte and especially the 2010 Barolo and Barbaresco. As I’ve noted elsewhere, I haven’t had a chance to taste these wines yet so I thought I’d reach out to the board more broadly to see what others think. A friend sent me the following data, which I thought would make the start of a discussion. This is not meant as a jab at anyone, but instead as a chance to assess the different viewpoints that might be out there about the vintage. AG stated how he feels about the vintage in another thread, but I don’t have access to any direct comments regarding the whole vintage from any of the other major critics.
Many have noted price increases in this vintage that seem higher than increases in other vintages. Reasons suggested include the actual high quality of the vintage, low yields, increased worldwide demand (in part fed by the lackluster or tiny vintages being released from other regions of the world), and score inflation (I’m sure I missed some).
Not irrelevant to this discussion is what the loss of Tanzer reviewing this region might mean. For this vintage, and I expect for others, he has clearly been the most conservative. Will not having his reviews going forward affect your and/or the US buying in some direct way?
From a price standpoint, I still feel like Barolo/Barbaresco gives you far more bang for the buck than many/most world class regions (particularly Burgundy/Bordeaux). My buying strategy remains the same…for classic, well regarded vintages (99/01/04/06/08/10) buy broadly (base and cru bottlings)) from 6-8 producers. In warmer, earlier drinking but still well regarded (98/05/07) buy mostly base bottlings. Skip the weaker vintages entirely (02/03/09)…there are too many other choices.
With some of the 2010 increases I am shifting some purchases from G Mascarello/Conterno/Vietti/Rinaldi to a level cheaper (Grasso/Vajra/Cavallotto/Cappellano/Produttori). Backfilling the more expensive producers instead.
If we see another 25% jump in the coming years I’ll likely have to drop a few producers entirely. Its a shame, but I think inevitable as buyers get priced out of Burgundy and look elsewhere.
You do seem to have a thing for Galloni don’t you? But I guess since we are talking about Piedmont very difficult to leave him out of the discussion. There has been a lot of info, focus on Piedmont in the last 12-15 years. And not just from Galloni, from many, many other writers - wine, food, travel etc. The region has lot to offer. I was into Piedmont long before the name Galloni appeared on my radar. I have been to Italy 18 times and Piedmont 16 of those 18. A quick look down my list should show my passion for Piedmont in the wine selection. Last week I had to force myself to not have all four red BTG selections from Piedmont. In the last year we did 12-14 producer wine dinners with at least 70% of them being from Piedmont. Three weeks ago, ten days apart, Domenico Clerico and Italo Stupino were in my Enoteca. So the producers are putting the boots on the ground to grow the market. So it is not just Galloni. But no one gets Piedmont like Galloni. He is pretty much dead on, aside from some ridiculous overpriced/overstyled dinners, with it. And the producers really, really like him.
Tanzer has always been an interesting side note for me. And nothing more. I don’t think he moves the market at all. And Parker/WA has been a trainwreck/tire fire for the last two years. But the impact is still there, 2010 Barolo is rated 98T on their vintage charts. Starting with my initial discussions with producers about the 2010s you could sense the excitement about the vintage. Tasting the wines revealed the reasons. The fact that it is a great vintage is clear. How great a vintage is something time will decide. But as a group of young wines it is probably the best I have ever tasted. Seems to me it belongs with 2001, 04, and 06. Slightly ahead of 2008. I did a tasting of 2010s over the weekend. All the wines showed well. They are young Barolo from a great vintage. We sold over 100 bottles.
The prices on most of the wines I have access to increased slightly or remained unchanged. A few wines (G. Conterno) increased about 18%. But I only buy 2-3 bottles. And many producers had not increased prices for 3-4 years. Vietti cru wines did not increase or had slight increase. So outside of a few wines, most prices were pretty stable. Plenty of good Barolo to go around. If you think you can find better value in a top wine region from anywhere else in the world you are kidding yourself.
And if you aren’t careful you will bring Klapp out of semi-retirement. I am sure he would disagree with 80% of everything I posted above. But that is OK and it would be interesting to hear his remarks. As sharp as some may be.
I’ve said my peace on/to Galloni and have moved past that. After he left that thread, I have let the conversation progress without further input. Unless I’m asked a direct question or something I believe to be grossly incorrect is stated, I’m good.
I do have a thing for Piemonte wines though and, as you say, it is difficult to have a conversation like this without Galloni coming up. One of the primary ways I examine wine is by examining data I have available to me. I did not contend that Galloni has too many high scores, nor did I contend that Tanzer has too few.
I don’t doubt that most producers like Galloni. Why wouldn’t they? He has helped to make the region more popular in the US (and perhaps elsewhere) with his reviews and scores.
WA has indeed been spinning its tires lately in several regions. However, as long as Parker is still associated with WA (and his name can be tied to reviews, even ones he didn’t actually write), the WA will continue to have significant influence in the market. Your point on the vintage score from WA is duly noted. Have you seen any statements by Larner or Parker generally about the vintage beyond this? I’m just curious.
I’m glad the wines are selling well for you following tastings. That suggests there is real quality there. Are the wines simply open early before shutting down or is the fruit riper and holding back the tannins? These wines are very young.
Nearly all of the wines I’ve looked at buying have increased somewhat in the 2010 vintage. Aside from G. Conterno, what other producers have shown significant price bumps (question for the whole board)? G. Mascarello for certain. Sandrone is way up, but that might have happened after leaving the cellar and after Galloni’s scores came out (not an accusation/attack, but a 97 and 100 will affect how distributors price the wines).
I’ve purchased about 4 cases of 2010 Barolo so far. In addition to the aforementioned G. Conterno Francia and G. Mascarello Monprivato, Elio Grasso was also substantially up in price from 2008, and I haven’t even been able to purchase any B. Mascarello. The only times I’ve seen it appear, it was for ~$150/bottle, which is also a substantial increase over previous years.
Brovia and Vajra were also up a bit but much more modestly when I purchased.
Hi Gary
TBH I read it as a steering away from that focus, to widen the discussion to others. To my mind quite the opposite of a singular focus.
regards
Ian
I thought we had an unhealthy holiday focus on Piemonte, but you beat us there Gary.
Any favourite Piemonte places outside of the Langhe?
Ghemme, Cuneo and (latest discovery) Bubbio have charmed us, not so much for outwards appearances, but just very pleasing places to be with some utterly charming people. Torino is probably my favourite city in the world (I’m not a great fan of big cities, but Torino has been a regular stop for us over the last 20 years). I think the food, wine & chocolate might play a part
I was indeed trying to move away from criticism of AG and the topic of score inflation. However, to be fair I thought I’d show 2009, which is the only other year where Larner also reviewed.
2009 Barolo:
Larner-11
96+: 3
96: 6
95+: 1
94-96: 1
Galloni-7
96+: 1
96: 5
95+: 1
Tanzer-1
96(+?): 1
I think 2009 shows something different than 2010 when you look at just these two vintages. I have these data back through 2001 for AG and ST. I can post it or forward it to anyone interested. It shows two things to me. AG (175 total 96+) scores higher than ST (75 total 95+), which shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who reads both of them even casually. The number of high scoring wines by AG increases while ST’s do not, correlating mostly with a bump from 2001 (15) to 2004 (26) in the number of high scores AG gave out. There are also some interesting results in individual vintages.
I realize I’m working against myself in stated purpose and in staying on the topic of this thread, but I wanted to be fair to AG in that one could argue the 2010 data alone show what some would argue to be an extreme difference that might bias one to conclusions that require a long-term outlook and analysis to support. Posting only the vintage where the difference is most stark is unfair (if one the goal is to discuss score inflation). I’m hoping this more detailed response will help convince others that I’m not still trying to ‘go after’ AG. If anyone would like to start a new thread to discuss score inflation further I will join you there (where I can offer these data and given some time I could assemble my Barbaresco scoring data ala the Barolo data shown elsewhere), but again, this is not my purpose here.
Michael,
I’m just curious, and this is in no way an attempted dig at you, but suppose ST and O’Keefe both review the Monprivato and give it reviews consistent with their reviews in other vintages? You seem to be a fan of this wine in general so I’m mildly surprised you would abandon it in a strong vintage. AG’s review read to me as a very good wine but perhaps not up to Monprivato standards, which I think you’d agree are quite high. Or maybe you read his review differently?
out of curiosity, in your praise for the vintage do you distinguish Barolo from Barbaresco like some critics have, intimating there is a real difference in quality (of the vintage, not wines)?
You don’t mention Barbaresco in your post specifically, apart from the name of Stupino.
This is the approach I was forced to use in Bordeaux as the prices climbed rapidly during the years where I found Bordeaux the most interesting region (2005-2010 vintages). I realized I was dropping down ‘levels’ of wine quite quickly to the point where it wasn’t really making sense to me anymore. I’m glad that during that time I found my love of Piemonte, where the prices aren’t at that same level. If 2010 Piemonte had done what 2005 or 2009 had done to Bordeaux price-wise, we’d both perhaps be considering yet another region…
What did AG have to say about the 2010 Monprivato? I believe on the “other” thread he said he had tasted it and would be giving a note. A summary would be fine, or, if permitted, posting the note with attribution.
He said it was a pretty wine with a good range of aromatics but missing something he usually associates with the wine (floral elements, I think). I believe he thought it a good wine but not up to snuff for Monprivato. If anyone read this differently, please correct me.
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