2007 Antonio Vallana e Figlio Boca- Italy, Piedmont, Northern Piedmont, Boca (11/12/2016)
Medium, clear red throughout, with fine transparency. On the nose, this offered up classic nebbiolo notes of roses and leather, with accents of cinnamon and an intriguing hint of lemon peel. Over the course of the bottle, the nose continued to develop richness and complexity, and with the last few swirls could easily have been mistaken for a mid-weight Barolo from a classic year. In the mouth, the '07 Boca was medium bodied and nicely balanced, with red fruits, spice and some savory herbs carrying the mid-palate through to a somewhat hollow finish, which was filled out when sipped with a pair of excellent grilled lamb chops. While the nose developed beautifully over the course of 2 hours or so, the palate was at its best in the first hour. It didn’t fall apart, but it did dissipate somewhat near the end, losing some of its fine delineation. If I didn’t know it was an '07, I would have pegged this as a bit older than it was, but from a good year. Perhaps a 2001. Highly recommended for scratching the Barolo itch without paying Barolo prices. Beautiful wine, and a pleasure to drink.
Frank, I have had the 2010 as well. It is clearly, to me, a better all around wine than the 2007, but less open. That said, I advise you not to decant it. I found the 2010 closed down at about the 1 hour mark. The first 45 minutes were the best. It is a very good wine and a steal for the price.
For those of you who don’t know Vallana, they have been around for decades. Old Vallana Spannas (regional term for nebbiolo) can be exquisite for 50 years or more. I’ve had excellent examples back to the '50s.
I’ve been thinking about that as well and basically my provisional conclusion is that I have no clue whether they will or not. Why do you think they won’t?
Agree on everything else, but beg to differ on the decanting bit. I’ve gone through at least six of these over the last year and to me they consistently showed best after a 3-4-hour decant. Just goes to show…
Rumours abounded, I’m perfectly aware of that. What’s more… “ostracised” is perhaps a bit strong, but even today, in my personal experience, many Alto Piemonte producers either clam up and clearly prefer not to discuss the issue, or get downright dismissive when an outsider like me brings up Vallana. I find the whole thing very curious.
I have no choice but to be entirely agnostic on the family resemblance issue. I’ve opened a number of their vampire bottles from the '50-s and '60-s, most of which I found genuinely baffling, but also clearly some of the best wines I’d ever tasted. I wasn’t around to taste them when they were in their infancy and their teens, so I only know what they were like fifty or more years down the road.
Fast-forward to the mid-90s. Over the last six or so years, I’ve had a number of Vallana bottlings that are now about 20 years old that (to me, at least) drink like they might still have a very long and eventful life ahead of them, including their “simple” Spanna Colline Novaresi from '97. I’ve also had most, if not all, vintages of their Gattinara and Boca released over the last ten years, same impression at this early stage.
For what it’s worth, I once had a very open conversation with Francis about the usual controversies. My questions were perhaps a little blunter than they needed to be. He was very frank and forthright in his answers, if obviously embarrassed. Not “guilty embarrassed”, mind you, more like “embarrassed for everyone else”. My impression, anyway.
Moreover, honestly, I could never quite make heads or tails of this whole aglianico/primitivo/anonymous southern blending agent story. I love and, as I like to think, to some extent also understand both aglianico and primitivo, and I have seen/tasted what they can do. But I simply can’t see either of them not just boosting, but positively transforming, the ageing potential of a vigorous nebbiolo-based wine to the really dramatic extent that we are talking about here.
So, what is it then? Clearly, it’s got to be something or other, but I haven’t made up my mind. I really have no idea.
It might be the power of suggestion emanating from those “supernatural phenomena”, it might be just pure instinct, but I do know that whatever other Alto Piemonte producers I buy (and that’s my favourite red wine region anywhere, so most of my money ends up there anyway), I buy twice as much Vallana.
(Besides, on a more personal note, I almost certainly won’t be around to drink the Vallana wines I’m buying now when they’re 50 or more years old. I am, however, very optimistic about their 20-30-year potential and wouldn’t be at all surprised if they outlived me and were still, well… very much “undead”).
I tend to agree there’s something missing from today’s Vallana wines that will keep them from lasting like they used to. Those old ones really are some of the most long-lived and robust wines out there. Even bottles that took a lot of abuse over the years are often still intact. I won’t say they are indestructible, as I had one recently from 1961 that was heat damaged, but really pretty miraculous.
Yeah, I have had a fair number of maderized/damaged old Vallana too. But the interesting thing about them is how many pristinely well-stored bottles are out there. I forget the exact story, but it had something to do with some distributor or wholesaler having a huge personal stash of them in his warehouse which wasn’t put on the market until somewhere around the 1990s. Or at least that’s what I heard - which may be just as much an apocryphal legend as the southern aglianico.
I have also enjoyed my fair share of ancient Vallanas, and I have to say success rate was probably a little higher than Barolos of a similar age.
The first bottle of the 2007 that I had was incredibly good, and I went back to buy a case. Unfortunately there is tremendous bottle variation (ironically more than with the ancient ones) and I ended up returning what remained of the case. Half of the bottles were problematic, with a swamp filth edge.
Yes that description nicely describes one disappointing modern Vallana we had. The others I’ve tasted have not suggested a gloriously long future.
I too have had unreasonably good luck with the older Vallanas, though now too rare & pricey to think I’ll taste another. I really can’t see the depth of those old wines being something that the current wines have. Hence I believe the rumours, and if they ever released a “?” wine based on a blend of southern aglianico and their own fruit, then I would be at the front of the queue to try it, probably alongside a few other folks here . Even if the rumours are true, it takes more than a bit of casual ‘beefing up’ to reach the quality of those wines, for they would have been astutely blended.
I have had only a few bottles of Vallana, and my experience lines up with most of the comments here; one bottle from the 60’s which was superb, and a few recents which were I think excellent, I cannot speak to their future however.
So I am interested in opinions on this wine:
2010 Antonio Vallana e Figlio Spanna Cuvee Bernardo Vallana
It is alleged to have been “made” in some “traditional” manner, and to expected to have a very long life. I have a case and am hoping for something (eventually) which fits my rathr traditional tastes. Any thoughts? Thanks!
Honestly, I’m not sure there is anyone around who can speak with any kind of authority as to their future. It’s probably all in the realm of hypothesis and personal belief/impression for the time being. I think we might have more of an idea about it in 10 or 15 years’ time, at best.
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. Even if the rumours are true, it takes more than a bit of casual ‘beefing up’ to reach the quality of those wines, for they would have been astutely blended.