Greg dal Piaz on 2013 in the Langhe: Qualified praise

For all you Langhe-heads, Greg dal Piaz is posting tasting notes on 2013 Barolos on the Simply Better Wines site. He’s already reviewed dozens of wines and is updating it regularly.

His overall take on the vintage is interesting – a bit of a counterweight to the rah-rah tone of some other critics (Robinson, Galloni) and the hype emanating from retailers. Greg’s take accords with the sense I got from producers when I was in the area a year ago. Some indicated that the vintage might have been a bit riper than ideal.

Here are excerpts from Greg’s overview:

2013 has produced some outstanding wines. The nature of the vintage is all about super ripe, fine grained tannins, lusciously sweet fruit, and spicy nuance. Both the tannins and the sweetness of fruit though seem to be the failings of the vintage as well.

The best wines have such remarkably finesse due to the fine tannins, and are elegant as well as firm, though nowhere near as masculine as the 2010s. This softness is the principal shortcoming of the vintage as well as quite a few wines are just too soft. They’re fun and delicious, but without backbone.

The sweetness of fruit in this vintage is also an issue. I don’t really look for luscious Barolo and don’t expect the particularly lush wines of the vintage to age that well. With time that lushness will fall away leaving wines that might lack depth, roundness, and nuance. It’s really very tough to say as I have never tasted wines like this at this stage of their lives, or any other for that matter.

While the heights of 2013 are stratospheric, the wines are not as classical as those of 2010, which, in a general sense I continue to prefer over this more recent vintage. But boy are there lots of outstanding wines! ….

2014 is better than you might be lead to believe. Not so much for the lesser varieties, though Barbera can be excellent, but for Barolo and Barbaresco in particular. Say tuned for more there as well!

Greg knows the Langhe and its producers as well as anyone and, across regions, he has one of the best palates I know, so I’m always interested to hear his views.

Nothwithstanding his reservations about the style of '13, he gives a lot of wines scores of 92-94, and Greg isn’t generally guilty of grade inflation.

He doesn’t distinguish between Barolo and Barbaresco. I’ll e-mail him and see if I can coax him to address that in his reviews or here.

Could we be looking at a new paradigm of earlier accessibility here with ripe fruit and fine tannins?

Thanks for posting this John. I’d be interested to hear about Barolo vs Barbaresco if you get anywhere with your communication.

I’ve e-mailed Greg.

And I corrected my OP, where I’d said his reviews included Barberesco. It’s just Barolo.

Has anyone tasted the 13 Bricco delle Viole? “a bit stewy or liquory on the nose” and “a hint of mocha” are sort of troubling descriptors, although he obviously still considers it an impressive wine.

John,

Thanks for posting this - much appreciated as I find Greg’s palate and lack of point-inflation more trustworthy than many others

thank you! massively useful and appreciated.

Has anyone had the opportunity to try the 2013 G. Mascarello Monprivato?

Thanks John for sharing this.

And thanks for the kind words from others.

This remains a bit of a work in progress and I’ve just added reviews for wines from Aldo Conterno, Elio Grasso, Camerano, Reva, and Voerzio Martini to the list.

This list (Piedmontese wines tasted in 2017 - Simply Better Wines) is neither complete nor terribly helpful at this point, but does give an indication of what I’m trying to finish editing in order to post to the site.

A few thoughts. 2014. Barbaresco has some authentically great wines. Much less rain than Barolo, as is usually the case, caused notably less trouble but even in Barolo, where production was typically down 30-60% due to strict selection, some terrific wines were produced. You might not like the style but these are wines that stylistically remind me of Barolo circa 1979-1981, though to a higher qualitative standard. I can only hope that the vintage is overlooked and wines linger long enough to be discounted. A terrific vintage for short term consumption, and by that I mean until their 20th birthday.

2015 is an outrageously fabulous vintage for Barbera. I might work on consolidating those notes next as there are amazing values to be found for wines that can redefine what the variety can produce.

The work that Walter Fissore has done at Elvio Cogno has really been paying off lately but this year his wines were really as good as almost anyone’s. His Barbera 2015 was stunning and it’ll probably be available for just under $30. The Barolo Ravera 2013 is gorgeous as well and might prove to be the best buy of the vintage.

Glad to answer any question anyone might have.

Thanks for reading!

The only wine I have tasted that he lists there is the 2013 Giuseppe Rinaldi Barolo Brunate. I tasted it a year ago, but my opinion is consistent with his. It’s a great wine. I tasted it with Carlotta from botte. She poured a glass for me and one for her, but didn’t finish hers. After she left, like a little kid stealing a cookie, I finished her glass too!

I have tasted with Greg for years. His knowledge of the Langhe and Italian wines in general is awesome. I would say his palate leans even more heavily to the traditional side than mine. We sat together at a big Produttori tasting and generally agreed, but he liked the 88s more than the 85s and I was the other way around. All of this is another way of saying that if you like some ripeness in your Barolo, you are going to love 2013. I look forward to his notes on the Vietti crus. I thought the Ravera and Rocche were great wines.

Thanks, Greg! Have you tasted any recent Giacosa wines?

I went back to look at my notes from my visit last year to Germano (the only place in Barolo where I was able to taste 2013s because most were just being bottled) and found this interesting fact about the 2013 harvest:

Ettore Germano - 2013 Barolo - Prapo (Serralunga)> (45-year-old vines, 40-day maceration; aged in 2,000 liter botte): Dark cherries on the nose – just oodles of fruit. A trace of reduction and what seemed like a faint oak note. Yum! Good tannic bite here. > The fruit was harvested a week earlier than the ripe 2011 vintage.

I’ve been following Greg’s tasting notes for many, many years. I don’t think I know of another palate that I have aligned with better than his. From my tasting of 2013s, I will say that I love the vintage from many producers and I’ve bought pretty deep. However I think it tricked quite a few people. There was a short time when some critics were calling it 2010++, but that hype has since been withdrawn (for the most part). Greg’s notes were a breathe of fresh air for me, because it’s a no nonsense addition in a field that seems full of comments based on loyalty to friendships with producers.

So 13 is generally considered a warm year ? Ripe and round wines ?

That’s my impression. But with good structure too.

Fabio Alessandria at Burlotto described it to me last year as being like a cross of the ripeness of 09 with the finesse of 12 – a combo that’s a little hard to imagine.

Indeed - a very odd crossing

Was he literally crossing himself when he said this? :wink:

This from a man with a 100 point wine. :slight_smile:
Odd. But when you think about it, not that bad of a mix.
Most producers I spoke with compared it to 2008, which I can see from the vibrancy I find in most of the wines.

That’s surprising. I never tasted many 08s early, but by reputation the tannins were always pretty hard in them, weren’t they? I thought it was kind of overlooked in the beginning because the wines lacked immediate charm. And I don’t think of it being a ripe or fruity year, in the way that '13 appears to be.