And then fight over it for 200-300 posts.
Correct. It is just what we do.
Gary,
I see so many comments about inconsistency with G Mascarello in recent vintages that I wonder how you put them in the top tier. People are just too impatient?
It is a problem. I have had many flawed wines from them, and time will not help. But many artists produce only a few pieces of truly great work. You can’t be brilliant everyday.
So how are they in the top tier when they have to produce x thousands of bottles year after year…frequent failure has to have a price.
David, the top tier list was my post, I’m not sure if Gary agrees with the G Mascarello inclusion or not.
Whoops… 
So how do you justify it?
I was mostly generating a list of what I think the consensus top producers would be.
From my own personal experience, the few bottles I have had have lived up to their reputation with excellent aromatics, bright red fruit and what I believe will be a bright future. Having said that, I don’t have as much experience as many on this board.
The issue with re-organizing the Barolo “heirarchy” is that the releases from the 2000’s won’t hit peak drinking windows for quite some time. IMO this makes ranking producers difficult if not impossible. Ie. many of Brovia/Grasso/Vajra recent releases might outdo some of the top producers on my list, but its difficult to include them. Time will tell.
As others have noted, these wines have been excellent for a long, long time. Italian critics have been continuously praising E. Grasso. The 96 Runcot received Tre Bicchieri (G. Rosso) and red wine of the year honors; 5 Grappoli from Duemilavini (Associazione Italiana Sommeliers) and three starts from Veronelli. I think all the wines have always been excellent…though some may quibble with the amount of new French oak in the Runcot (the Chiniera and Ginestra Vigna Casa Maté are made more traditionally). As for domestic reviews and scores rising, I think it comes down to grade inflation, but not better wines or any real meaningful change at Grasso.
Giacosa is in a class of is own. Not what they are doing now but they have consistently done for a long time.
How much did Ken V. pay you to say this? 
The list looks pretty good to me. Might have some minor changes down around 8-9 especially if you include the modernists. I include G. Mascarello by saying “although the wines can be irregular, they can also be extraordinary”. If you removed the irregularity, Bruno and Roberto might have some real trouble.
I would have said that there was general consensus – at least during the last 40 years or so – that the top three were Bruno Giacosa, Giacomo Conterno, and Gaja in some order, with everyone else a step down, so I’m surprised no one has mentioned Gaja. While I haven’t been drinking Barolo and Barbaresco for long enough to be a primary source on this question, I would call myself an expert on what has previously been written about them on this Board over the last three years, and I think I can say with some degree of confidence that the consensus list looks like the following:
Top 3:
Giacosa
G. Conterno
Gaja
Second Tier:
B. Mascarello
G. Mascarello
G. Rinaldi
“Starting to Get Controversial” Tier:
A. Conterno
L. Sandrone
Vietti
Cappellano
Just spotted the 2010 Elio Grasso Ginestra Case Mate and the Gavarina Vigna Chiniera on sale at a local shop for $62 each.
This looks like a good deal, if you like Barolo (which I do), is this a must buy (despite that I’m in a half-hearted buying freeze at the moment)?!?!
Pat, that looks to be a very good price. I don’t envision we’ll see deep discounts on 2010, and that looks to be significantly under what most are selling it for. FWIW I paid $80 for both crus.
Nothing is a must buy.
With the euro down from ~$1.38 six months ago to less than $1.24 today, I’d guess we may seem some 2010 Barolo pop up at attractive prices. Those Grasso’s were likely purchased when the exchange rate was much worse from an American perspective.
If you like Barolo (and can wait 15 years to drink them), that is as close to a must buy as you will find.