Nope, he is indeed speaking about the Barbaresco (showing on Wine-Searchers for $30 at Circle Liquors in NJ, and up; I paid $35 here with the bad dollar-Euro exchange), and remember, Giacosa never owed Santo Stefano (well, Albesani Santo Stefano, as it is called these days), but only bought the fruit, and he no longer buys the fruit or makes a Santo Stefano Barbaresco. Castello owns a little less than seven acres of Santo Stefano Nebbiolo, as well as a couple more acres planted to Barbera and Riesling. It gets my early, if not final, vote for Nebbiolo buy of the vintage…
Outside of a few wines - Conterno, Vietti etc. some prices have increased 5-10% for the 2010 vintage. Many have held the same price as the last few years. As an example I would offer the 2010 Vietti Castiglione with no price increase and the GD Vajra Albe with a two dollar increase. Those are two mainstay wines for me. Note that I buy wholesale so I am not sure what retailers will do. Many will bump the price up a bit. I will be doing a 2010 Barolo tasting and sale in about three weeks and have no plans to play any tricks with the prices. If anything I would like to offer the wines at a slightly lower price to broaden the base and pick up more fans for the wine/region. Few things gives me more pleasure than taking dollars away from France and California. 2010 is on the whole, one of the best vintages in the last 25 years. Outside of a few top wines, even with the slight price increases, the wines are the best values in the wine world today. Don’t believe me? Just taste and think about what has gone on in California, Burgundy and Bordeaux in the last few years.
Just called the store. 609-927-2921. They do not have the wine in stock and may or may not be able to honor the price when the wine arrives later. I am going to guess they won’t. But who knows. The importer is Winebow and they do like to play tricks with prices, especially in the Northeast. FWIW I have 3 cases coming to me in about 3 weeks, should be about $60 retail. Interesting that wine Library is showing a 3L for $170. I was told the wine was not in the country yet.
I don’t have nearly enough tasting experience yet to have my own opinion on the vintage, but I find this statement very interesting. What do you make of Produttori’s decision not to bottle any Crus? The reason given is that it isn’t a very strong vintage in Barbaresco.
Don’t know if it has arrived in the U.S. yet, and who knows where the pricing may up, but I would call it a giveaway at $30, a hell of a bargain at $50 and worth jumping on at anything south of $75, given where the prices of most things shake out. My Alessandria Monviglieros were $44, Burlotto Monviglieros $50 and Brovias $60 and $68 at $1.26-$1.28/Euro…
As you probably know, if Produttori can’t make all of the Cru’s in a given vintage it will declassify them all and that’s what I read and was told by a trusted retailer same as 06’. It seems that they have a ton of wine in the pipeline (which I think is the case) because 10’ doesn’t seem nearly bad enough to declassify it all.
The Castello Santo Stefano is really strong juice, as noted above. Gaja’s single crus are his best since 2004. Moccagatta’s wines are their best in several years, if one likes the style. The Paitin wines are possibly among their best ever. Bruno Rocca’s Rabaja looks like his best ever, and the Sottimano wines appear to be as good as any produced there so far. A level of quality is there across the board. Other than that, there is absolutely no basis for my point of view. Produttori’s cru decision is relevant evidence, but not always something to set your watch by, and the Giacosa yardstick is missing entirely, as it was in 2006, which cannot possibly be blamed on the vintage. Also, when you consider how many different vineyards of widely varying quality go into the Produttori decision, overall vintage quality may mean one thing for Vacca and something else for other producers. I do not think that there is any chance that 2008 is a better vintage than 2010 in Barbaresco, but yet it yielded perhaps the best set of modern-era Produttori crus made. I tend to liken the declaration of Produttori crus to the declaration of Monfortino…it does not always take a consensus great vintage. And, if you place stock in such things, the Wine Advocate pegs the vintage at 95, just behind Galloni’s rating of the 2007 vintage at 96 and near the august company of 2001, 1996, 1990, 1989, 1982 and 1978. That is, if you believe WA vintage charts, or any vintage charts for that matter. (I do not believe that it was a 100-point vintage in either Barbaresco or Barolo, unlike 2000!) Do I think that it is a better year on balance in the Barolo zone? Yes. Do I think that the 2010 largesse by-passed Barbaresco? Absolutely not. If you like Nebbiolo, ther are some buys to be had in Barbaresco as well as Barolo…
It does seem like the most prestigious names continue to increase in price faster than inflation. True also for many other wine regions. Such is the world, and there are many great wines that aren’t sought after for status/prestige.
There have been plenty of good vintages recently, to get caught up in the hype of a potential ‘greatest vintage of our generation’ or other such claim. It is right to wonder whether such bold claims are for the benefit of the critic more than anything else. As touched on elsewhere, I am slightly cautious on 2010s but was lucky enough to taste before buying (a small few) at the cellar door last week.
p.s. Bill: Assuming you’re in Neive at the moment, has picking recommenced after the bad weather last Monday? There seemed to be a rush to pick quite a few Serralunga vineyards on Saturday/Sunday but at least there has been warm weather since. The general vibe seemed quite positive from the producers we spoke to (but then they often are unless it’s a shocker!)
Ian, I have not been in Neive but sporadically this harvest, but I will be shocked if 2014 is a great year in either zone. The weather has been consistently bad for too long. On the “Vintage of a lifetime” front, also good to take heed of Greg’s note in passing on the 2011s. I do not have my arms around that vintage at all, but there is clearly good stuff in the pipeline in the 2011-2013 run.
I ordered one case at $31 all in per bottle incl tax and shipping. We’ll see if it comes. If not, there’s a place in CT at $35 per bottle. We’ll see…
Bill, I agree the Francia might not be worth it as it approaches $200+, but I don’t see it as a “second wine.” Second wines in Bordeaux are essentially afterthoughts (with quality rarely matching price) relative to the mass-produced main products. Monfortino is a true riserva. Francia is still the primary wine, and it is a top-tier, exceptional Barolo that is produced in roughly three times the quantity of Monfortino, and in a different style. It’s not just about the grape selection, and I think the idea of the “best grapes” going into the Monfortino is overblown in terms of what that means for the wine without regard to the different production methods. I will be thinking carefully about where I hit my price limit, but AG ratings and comparisons to Monfortino won’t be factors.
Prompted by the Todd, i’ve put up an Altare/Sottimano 2010/2011 offering in Commerce Corner, FYI.
SALUTE
I wanted to jump in here, and relay some info about pricing.
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Francia production is down 60%. Last year I bought 16 cases of 2009 CF, this year, I had to fight to get 4. It’s VERY unlikely you will see this wine discounted.
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Ceretta they made roughly the equivalent of 333 cases of 750s. Also, no wine.
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It’s unfair to compare 2009 vs 2010 prices. First, you had 2004, 2006 and 2008 readily available on the market, so 2009s in most stores sat, and even we worked short on the pricing so they would move. Brovia’s top 3 Crus were priced in the high 70s in 2008 vintage, so $90 this year is right in line. Vajra hadn’t increased price between 2004 and 2008 vintage, and it went up with 2009, but I never raised my price. 2010, it went up again, so I was forced to. It kind of goes on from there.
Feel free to check other wines we are selling, you’ll see pricing is far more normal. There is no “norm of pricing” for the vintage, every producer did different things.
These are out now, and prices are fair.
BTW, Baudana was spectacular. Buy lots with confidence. I preferred Ceretta to the Baudana. The Serralunga may be my favorite “base” cuvee of the vintage.
Ian, is Francia production down 60% relative to 2004-2006? All the grapes went into one wine in 2009, so obviously production levels were higher; and the 2009 was not especially in-demand, so I assume that plays some role in your allocation.
Kevin, in the immortal words of Darryl Hall and John Oates, I can’t go for that, oh no, no can do. First, not all second wines in Bordeaux are afterthoughts (but I will concede that some are), but even if you do not like my analogy, I am sticking to my guns on where “Francia” (still getting used to that) stands in the grand scheme of things. Monfortino is, and always has been, the primary wine, first made circa 1920. It has not always been styled a riserva, but in the grand scheme of things, I can agree with you that the wine is a true riserva, however denominated. (And I agree with you that it is not all about grapes, and that the fact that there is no Monfortino does not necessarily guarantee that the Francia will be any better for that.) Cascina Francia is a relative Giovanni-come-lately, with 1979 being the first commercial vintage, I believe. For my taste, there are a number of earlier purchased-grape G. Conterno Barolo normales and riservas (great bottles of the 1964, for instance) that are equal to or better than Cascina Francia, which was a young-vine wine for many years. G. Conterno is absolutely a top-tier estate, and Monfortino and its Barbera are both indisputably top-tier wines. Cascina Francia is a solid, well-made wine that is capable of turning into some great drinking, and not to be sneezed at, but I cannot think of a single vintage of it that I would be tempted to include in a list of the greatest Baroli. I find it on a par with Monprivato, while Monfortino and its peers sit on a shelf well higher. Giacosa’s wines eclipse it more often than not (until recently). There is no Casina Francia, including the 1989, that could sit comfortably on the same table with almost all Monfortinos and, say, any of Giacosa’s 1978 red labels (likely ANY of Giacosa’s red labels, period). Gaja has made many more impressive wines, even if not in strictly traditional style. I can point you to older Aldo Conterno wines, like the 1989 Gran Bussia, that blow Cascina Francia away. There are the best wines of Teo Cappellano, Cavallotto, Burlotto and others who hit pay dirt as often as Cascina Francia has. There is Bartolo. There is Beppe Rinaldi. You can pick your own favorites. There is no arguing against the quality or consistency of Cascina Francia. However, if it belonged in the top tier in Barolo, it would not have been selling for $75 a bottle a couple of years ago while the top-tier wines were fetching hundreds of dollars with relative ease. Here is the history from Rare Wine Comapny’s website:
The First Important Barolo
The Conterno crown jewel, Monfortino, is not only arguably the greatest Barolo; it was also the very first Barolo made in what has come to be known as the classic style. At the time that Roberto Conterno’s grandfather Giacomo served in World War I, Barolo was generally sold in either cask or demijohn, meant for early drinking. But in 1920, when Giacomo returned from the war, he decided to create a Barolo with immense aging potential. That wine became known as Monfortino.
Over the next 54 years, Giacomo - and then his son Giovanni - made not only Monfortino, but also Barolo and Barolo Riserva. Each wine was made in much the same way, from purchased grapes, the main distinction being fermentation technique and time in cask.
Cascina Francia
During the '40s, '50s and ‘60s, the Conternos could produce their epic Barolos by relying on small, independent farmers who worked their old, low-yielding vines. But by the 1970s, those farmers began increasingly to make their own wines. Threatened with the loss of their fruit sources, Giovanni acquired Serralunga’s great Cascina Francia vineyard. With its fabulous exposure, and predominately calcareous soil, the site was perfect for the powerful Conterno style, and soon Cascina Francia became the sole source of their wines.
Just sayin’, in the inimitable Klapp style… 
This is a keeper.
Monfortino, sadly, is becoming very difficult to get your hands on…
2004 vintage we got everything we wanted - 750’s, mags etc. Same with 2002.
2005 was super slim pickings
2006 I got one lonely mag and a few cases of 750s.
By the time 2010 rolls around this wine is going to be tough to source…and lord only knows where the price will be set.
Bill, this is a bit off track, but can you clarify what you mean by 24-48 hours of air? Most of us don’t do this, at least on purpose. Is that slow ox you are speaking of, or a double decant in there somewhere? Do actually do that on purpose in prepping a wine, or are you just speaking from experience on wine left over and sampled over the next day or two?
Grimaldi, Marcarini, Vietti
All their basic wines at that price. Ordering from sale pricing when I see it. The Grimaldi was actually ordered twice. I am buying others too at a bit more, but I am sure their will be lots of opportunities. Deja vu, I am sure I typed the same thing in 2001, 2004 and again in 2007.