1958 Fontanafredda Barbaresco- Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco (10/5/2016)
I took this wine off its considerable sediment around lunchtime and gave it an 8 hour decant. It was absolutely superb. the nose was all rose petals and black earth. With time in the glass there were red fruit and tar smells coming to the fore. The palate was so vibrant and pure with outstanding depth of fruit and exquisite balance between sweet and savoury elements. The wine’s structure is still sound and everything is in perfect harmony. A joy to drink.
1985 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage Blanc- France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage (10/5/2016)
This bottle was in superb condition. There was a whiff of matchstick sulphur when first poured. It has rich, exotic fruits with notes of custard apple, guava and fig as well as white peach. It had some honeysuckle and blossom smells too. In the mouth it was layered like Montrachet and had terrific volume. It had great detail and there was breezy minerally acidity carrying the long finish.
It had a reputation of having gone downhill for several decades until it was sold in 2008 by the (now failing) Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena to the owner of Eataly. He bought Borgogno shortly before that. The wines from the 70s were supposed to be good, though. I haven’t tasted recently releases, but it would be interesting to see how they’re doing. They don’t seem to get much attention.
Nice tasting of the white Hermitage . We did a vertical of Chave white Hermitage a few years ago and I was slightly underwhelmed . We probably drank them too soon ( age : between 2 and 12 ) . Older Hermitage is probably more interesting .
The Fontanafredda Barolo “classico” bottling was my first acquaintance with Nebbiolo as well as Barolo, back in the 80s and 90s. The reason for that was simple: This was just about the only Nebbiolo readily available on the shelves of the Swedish monopoly stores back then. Once I got to know what really good Nebbiolo can be like, I started to think of it as a quite boring incarnation and haven’t felt inclined to try it more than once since, and that was merely to confirm my impression. Yet, it was apparently good enough to make us (my wife and me) sufficiently intrigued to eventually visit the Langhe and I certainly remain grateful for that.
What I have tried later on are several vintages of the Barolo Serralunga (2000, 2001, 2004) and the Barbaresco Coste Rubin (2001 and 2004) plus a 1999 Barolo Galarey (no longer made) and a 2000 Barolo Vigna La Rosa. Of these, the only one that I was really enthusiastic about was the Coste Rubin. Really good stuff and sold at a fair price. The La Rosa was pretty good too but I think there are better Nebbioli in that price range. The Galarey was nothing to write home about and the Serralunga bottling not much more than OK and too oakdriven for my palate.
Beyond the Nebbioli, the best Fontanafredda bottling I have encountered is the Piemonte Barbera Briccotondo. That’s a very nice Barbera at a very favorable price. I rarely drink it these days but that’s only because I can find even better Barbera deals locally when visiting the Langhe area. If I were restricted to what I can get here in Sweden, I’d most likely have some Briccotondo in my cellar at this point, just as I used to in the not so distant past.
Interesting, thanks for the data point regarding their wines from the 70s John. My mate Cos and I just picked up a 1971 Fontanafredda Barbaresco off the strength of Jeremy’s note (thanks Jeremy!), your statement regarding their quality in the 70s, and a low price point. We’ll make sure to judiciously decant for sediment and let it breathe for a day or so before reporting back though…
Regarding the style at Cantina Fontanafredda post 2008 I just read a couple TNs on their 2010 Serralunga Barolo and the inclusion of “spice, clove and mocha – small oak here” in one and cola in the other makes me suspect some barrique/new oak. Further if you have a look at the technical profile for the wine on their site you’ll see the following.
Vinification: the fermentation is traditional: medium-long (15 days) in stainless steel vats with a floating cap at a controlled temperature (30-31° C). The must then stays in contact with the skins for further 15 days to optimize the extraction of the polyphenolic substances and help start the subsequent malolactic fermentation.
Ageing: one year in barriques from Allier and two year in oak casks still from Allier (2000 lt). After a soft clarification, the wine is bottled for a further period of maturation in the bottle, the lenght depends from the characteristics of the vintages, but never less than 12 months
Perhaps because he has, understandably, failed to commit to memory every single redundant, ridiculously pompous, and utterly useless rigmarole with which you’ve been clogging up the bandwidth here recently. Or, perhaps, he’s just having you on. Either way, I can hardly blame him .
Anders, I’m not sure that link answers my question. To be honest I didn’t read every page though as it grew quite boring rather quickly. As a friendly critique, I would suggest tightening up your paragraph structure so as not to alienate the reader.
Hi Jeremy,
Was it experience with other 50s Barolos that told you to decant for 8 hours? I certainly find they improve over the evening - gaining in sweetness and even depending in colour. I’d love to hear a wine chemist’s explanation of why this happens.
Not sure what you mean by “tightening up” the paragraph structure (I don’t think my paragraphs are particularly long). But since it turns out that your question was meant sincerely, I am happy to answer it. This can be done rather quickly: My take on how to deal with older wine is basically the same as that of François Audouze. See here for details:
Well, if you plan to drink any stellar,mature (20-60 years after vintage) Baroli (Giacosa, Giacomo Conterno, Mascarello, G.Rinaldi) do not listen to the uneducated nonsense from Sweden. You money will be totally lost.
I got one tip from the article(NY Times), that needs a try :
“Mr. Waterhouse said that the obnoxious, dank flavor of a “corked” wine, which usually renders it unusable even in cooking, can be removed by pouring the wine into a bowl with a sheet of plastic wrap.”
This is news to Me.
I just invented My own magic wand. A thin oak stick with loosely wound plastic-wrap around, so it will fit easy inside TCA-bottles, for 10min… -and the wine is cured when the wand is pulled out.
I must try some wrapping, next time I get a TCA-bomb.
