TN: '78 and '82 Nebbiolo

Several nebbiolo lovers gathered at Dovetail In the upper west side Friday night to enjoy some nebbiolo form the '78 and 82 vintages as a preamble to the following evening’s '96 retrospective. The food was well executed, the service excellent. the company was better. The partners in crime were:

Ben G
Steve H
Bob H
Henry K
Ken V
Kelly W
Jamie W
and yours truly


To start:

• NV Emmanuel Brochet Champagne Le Mont Benoit Brut Non Dosé Premier Cru - France, Champagne (10/10/2016)
  Beautiful fresh and pure. A fine bead, crisp, with grace and a beautiful tactile sense. Refreshing but not austere. Its ripe but not overripe fruit carries the non dosage style beautifully. 93 (93 pts.)
  
  
  
  First flight:
• 1978 Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco Riserva Ovello - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco (10/7/2016)
  Cherry and roses, but with a mustiness that I thought was TCA at first but I now think less likely as at the end of the night it was less bad. Youthfully still powerful, and while enjoyable, this was an off bottle compared to my previous experiences with this wine. NR
• 1978 Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco Riserva Rabajà - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco (10/7/2016)
  Cooler and deeper than the Ovello. This come across more poised, with both greater depth and precision. Darker fruited, perfumed both on the nose and the palate, with tar, roses, menthol and beautiful cherry fruit. A regal, poised, effortlessly wonderful wine drinking at early peak. Deep yet expansive while maintained beautiful focus. I am consistently stunned by the quality of the Produttori and especially their Rabaja bottling. Classic fantastic wine. 96 pts (96 pts.)
  
  
  
  Flight #2:
• 1982 Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco Riserva Rabajà - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco (10/7/2016)
  Again a cooler profile to the Ovello. Depth and class here. Rose, perfumey, pure and deep with more menthol and floral notes combining with the depth and effortless power of Rabaja. A beautiful balance of power and grace. Beautiful drinking a peak, and only suffering in context of the '78. 93 pts (93 pts.)
• 1982 Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco Riserva Ovello - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco (10/7/2016)
  Dark and still feeling youthfully vigorous. There is tar and minty- menthol perfume but with an added savory and meaty side to the wine. Structured and complicated. Outstanding and early peak. 90 pts (90 pts.)
  
  
  
  Flight #3
• 1978 Gaja Barbaresco Costa Russi - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco (10/7/2016)
  Lovely perfume, roses, with softer edges than the other '78s. A touch of cocoa that for me detracted some, but otherwise lovely palate presence. Structured, but if I am picking nits, with less focus than the other '78s. Nice tension, balance and poise. Beautiful. 93 (93 pts.)
• 1982 Roagna Barbaresco Crichët Pajé - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco (10/7/2016)
  corked, and a shame. the underlying material was impressive. NR (flawed)

Posted from CellarTracker You’re welcome for that one guys.


Flight #4


[]1982 Bruno Giacosa Barolo Rocche di Castiglione Falletto - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo (10/7/2016)
More on the mineral, linear side, yet with a sense of suppleness that was a cool contrast to the tension and structure of the wine. Cherry fruit and dried rose petal more so than fresh roses. Structured, and less broad, but with grace and lovely balance. In a perfect world I would have loved a blend of a bit of the Vietti flesh and this wines more reserved grace. That said without the imaginary blend of both worlds, I liked this a lot, and this style is my preferred. Others at the table may and likely will disagree. At peak and with time in hand. 96 (96 pts.)


[]1982 Vietti Barolo Rocche - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo (10/7/2016)
This was a lovely surprise. More giving and round that the Giacosa. Roses, more expansive and broad with a little more red fruits and certainly more flesh than the Giacosa. Broader but not flabby, this wine came at me where the Giacosa drew me in. It grew in presence over the evening. Beautiful, easier to like, but less intriguing than the Giacosa. Beautiful. At peak. 95 (95 pts.)

Flight #5

[]1982 Giacomo Conterno Barolo Riserva Cascina Francia - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo (10/7/2016)
This ahas a darker Serralunga nose, with rose perfume, menthol, and balsam notes. This is a wine of depth and power. It’s expansive but beautifully balanced with perfectly ripe fruit carried with tension and a sense of grace that belie its size. Broad shouldered and graceful, yet effortlessly beautiful and drinking at early peak with tons of time in hand. 97 and for me WOTN. Super. (97 pts.)


[]1982 Bartolo Mascarello Barolo - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo (10/7/2016)
At first, understated with more savory side to the fruit and perfume. This did open up over the night. Redder fruited and a little less structured than my last bottle of this. Roses, soil, and structure. Lovely, but less impressive than I had hoped for based on my last bottle. there were lots of good parts, but for me, and I did not get much of it on the second go around, it seemed not to quite all come together into a harmonious whole. Others at the table said it improved quite a bit over the night. 93 for how I saw it. (93 pts.)

Flight #6


[]1982 Cordero di Montezemolo Barolo - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo (10/7/2016)
A lovely nose, that is comforting and alluring. There is classic tar and roses with a beautiful mix of soil, perfume, and fruit. Nothing really stands out her, it just all its together into a beautiful whole. Lovely palate presence with sneaky power delivered with a gentle touch. This is not the most impressive wine of the night, but rather the most pleasantly surprising and pleasurable wine. Performed well above my expectations and this is no faint praise. This was beautiful wine by any measure, drinking at peak (93 pts.)



[]1982 Luciano Sandrone Barolo - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo (10/7/2016)
cooked- dead NR (flawed)


Overall a great night with some fantastic wines showing well with plenty of time in hand. Tom and Greg, you were missed.

Thanks for reading.

Pop and pour?

This guy…

Seriously, thanks for sharing. Those are some really special bottles y’all opened there.

Tvrtko,

Good question, and I should have indicated in the original post.

We shook the bottles up to aerate them.

In case the humor was not noted:

Most of the bottles were double decanted for sediment early in the day. Mine had been upright for weeks ahead and I suspect the majority of the others were as well.

nice notes and wines- thanks for sharing

I think everything was double decanted by 1pm. A few much earlier.

Just like your mentor.

Nice! But this fairly represents my experience with the fail rate for pre '90 non Conterno, Giacosa or Gaja wines, 3/9. I do think that there’s more attention to QC now.

My sides…

For me, the flight of the night was the '82 Conterno Riserva and Bartolo, followed closely by the flight that preceded it (the Vietti and Giacosa). That may be because it was paired with my entree, a very tasty pork concoction that was finished with some bacon jus

And I will agree that the Cordero was a pleasant surprise - not really a producer I follow/collect, but the wine is in a good place right now.

I think problems with older Barolo/Barbaresco have more to do with storage in many cases – no one took the wines seriously enough to store them in the way serious Bordeaux and Burgundy were stored. The Italians weren’t particularly careful about cellar conditions and here in the US, before the 1990s, the wines often sat on retailers’ shelves for years and years. Older wines that come on the market now were often subjected to miserable treatment along the way.

Yes, winemaking is more modern and cleaner since the 80s, but I’ve been amazed over the years at how sounds many older nebbiolos are. It was received wisdom that they were made in dirty cellars and with winemakers oblivious to oxidation and VA, but I think the winemakers a generation or two back knew a lot more than they were given credit for. And I don’t mean just Gaja, Giacosa and the Conternos.

Excellent notes Todd. Sounds like a great weekend. Baller!

Bob I own some Cordero, mostly because I can’t afford those big guns!..and didn’t stock up my “wine room” properly, when the stocking was good. Never had the '82 but I thought the '78 Cordero was delicious.

RT

I’ve only had one Cordero – a 74 – that was quite good. In recent decades they’ve been heavily oaked and don’t ever seem to win a lot of praise, but the older ones have a good reputation.

Great flights! However, I am sorry to hear about the '82 Crichet Paje; I was fortunate to drink that wine at dinner in Piemonte last November and it was the wine of the trip.

Anyone on this thread going to Galloni’s 2004 Retrospective tasting next week at Vaucluse ? I’m looking forward to it.

Great tasting! And I’m sorry too for the Crichet Paje’. Just yesterday I had a good excuse to pop the only bottle I have of this wine, and your missing note is a good excuse to post mine here :

• 1982 Roagna Barbaresco Crichët Pajé - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco (11.10.2016)
  Bought at auction. Good fill level. Some sign of cepage under the capsule.
  The cork has become softer and glided easily outside (after dangerously going a few cm down into the neck).
  Popped and poured, drunk half bottle during 3-4 hours, then the rest the evening after.
  Nice garnet color, still lively, and with some orange hues on the rims.
  The nose is immediately fine, deep and expressive, not even particularly mature. The first pour shows after about 30 mins. in the glass some oxidative notes, later pours become less expressive. The first sip shows very well, harmonious deep, mature, but still fresh and lively. Shows a strong mineral spine and very fine-grained, but still powerful tannins. During the evening it evolved into a leaner wine, completely structure dominated: in a word, austere. It also shows some bitterness on the finish.

Day 2: the nose is now more expressive, still fresh, in wonderful shape, with just a hint of the sweetness which comes from exposure to air. It’s harmonious, mature, classic: shows tobacco and balsamic notes, over a background of macerated fruit. On the palate it has also improved substantially and has acquired more body and roundness, even though the structure remains firm.
Now a beautiful example of a mature nebbiolo, but remains on the austere side.

Posted from CellarTracker

Thanks for taking the time to share your experience Gilberto!

That was my first and last bottle, and I hope to come across its path again.

Much appreciated!

Todd