TN: Two 2013 Francesco Rinaldis

TWO 2013 FRANCESCO RINALDIS

The Francesco Rinaldi house - as opposed to the more famous Giuseppe Rinaldi operation - is a new one to me. I was grateful to Nick for opening a pair of these wines for us to try. And I was impressed … The wines were popped and poured.

  • 2013 Francesco Rinaldi e Figli Barolo Cannubi - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
    From a 2.4 ha vineyard with south-eastern exposure. Vines planted between 1969 and 1990 on a sandy, silty and clay soil. A brighter, more vibrant, lighter red colour. Sweetly perfumed with gentle florals, red cherries, raspberries and other mainly red fruit. Light and breezy, with a touch of tobacco. In the mouth, fleshy and succulent. Seeming to have a real 2013 Barolo character with plenty of juicy red berries. Elegant and pretty with the tannins, acids and fruit well proportioned and balanced. Very traditional with no trace of oak. Good weight, power and structure below the silky surface. Very open, drinking very well now. I wondered if the wine will shut down or remain relatively open, over its early life … ? It did however shut down a little over the next day …
  • 2013 Francesco Rinaldi e Figli Barolo Le Brunate - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
    From a 2 ha vineyard with a south-east exposure. Vines planted on the largely clay soil between 1979 and 1981. A noticeably darker, black-red colour. On the bouquet, more dark fruit, earth and a little menthol. Also, dark berries on entry. More serious, firm and brooding. As well as the dark fruit there’s Brunate dark soil tones and an austerity and iron minerality at its core. Seeming the more backward expression of the two wines, with more structure, concentration and tight grip on the longer finish. Both the tannic and acid structure contributed to the Brunate being more closed here. This wine demands 5-7 and ideally 10+ years in the cellar to begin to blossom.

The pairing put me in mind of the Tre Tine/Brunate pairing of Giuseppe Rinaldi with the Cannubi, of course, in the Tre Tine role. In my opinion, they’re not quite at that level, but they’re notheless a damn fine pair of Baroli!

Posted from CellarTracker

I don’t have any experience with Giuseppe Rinaldi baroli — but these Rinaldis do seem to fly under the radar a bit, and have delivered surprisingly early drinking windows (2011 vintage in particular). They also make a delicious and somewhat structured (for the varietal) Grignolino. Looking forward to the 2013 Barolo vintage!

The 1995 F. Rinaldi Cannubbio developed very nicely. It was extremely elegant. But I don’t have a lot of experience with their wines, either. I have an '89 La Brunata that I’ve been sitting on for almost 20 years!

Does he still spell Cannubi in the alternative way, Howard.

No, he doesn’t anymore, since a couple of vintages:

http://www.rinaldifrancesco.it/en/vini.php

image.jpeg

Since the introduction of the MGAs spellings for things like Cannubi have been standardized.

I though the crus from Francesco Rinaldi were terrific in 2013. They have always produced very good wines, from plots that are adjacent to those of Giuseppe Rinaldi. A family split necessitated the split. People say G got the better part of Brunate and F Cannubi, but everyone has an opinion.

They have cleaned up the cellar quite significantly over the past 6 or so years, decomissioning some of the last truly large botte in the Langhe and replacing them with an assortment of smaller botte, with most ranging from 25Hl to 50Hl. The Barolo Classico in 2013 was also a fine effort and at the current prices the entire line-up is a great value play.

Thanks for the info, Greg.

I’m curious: What qualifies as “truly large botte” if 50Hl doesn’t qualify?

100-110HL

Greg, yes, thanks for the additional information.

Definitely a house I’ll follow from now on, until the prices get bid out of reach …

I tasted the Brunate at a 2013 Barolo tasting this evening sponsored by Chambers Street Wines and Jancis Robinson. The Rinaldi didn’t show particularly well in that setting (40+ 2013s). It lacked a little concentration. But it was elegant and relatively approachable.

Greg was there and said the lack of concentration is due to the fact that they have quite high yields. But he said they have a good track record for evolving with time into lovely wines.

(Fuller notes on the tasting are here.)

Does anyone have a sense of whether the '10 Cannubi is drinking well enough to purchase off a restaurant’s wine list? Eyeing this for tomorrow and the price is good enough to consider avoiding the hassle of bringing my own. Could probably get the restaurant to open it a few hours in advance of arrival, but '10 was structured enough a vintage to make me have some doubt.

Just a quick note:
Francesco Rinaldi Cannubi 2013 RISERVA is even better, a superstar IMO.

Never seen their Riservas…

I had the 2006 Rinaldi Barolo Le Brunate about a month ago. My favorite out of 25 wines. Really was singing after 6 hrs in the decanter. I would say that this is still mostly primary, but just starting to smooth out and get some mild tertiary notes. I would wait another 10 years minimum for true maturity. Quite elegant with a good about of power behind it. Made me start to look a little harder at this producer.

You can find F Rinaldi Barolo Cannubi Riserva ‘13 in some US and UK wine stores (wine searcher - within Cannubi non riserva ‘13 list).

When I was in Piemonte several years ago, and tasted at both Ronaldo’s when the 07 was the new vintage and 06s were still being tasted, I preferred Francisco Rinaldi to Guisseppe’s. I was quite surprised but happy as the price on F. Rinaldi was much lower.

The 2013 vintage was the first year F. Rinaldi ever producing a Riserva. Luckily, there were a few available through Vinopolis about six months back. heard there was limited production of the riserva, but have not confirmed. I’ll reach out and update the thread. I hear they will also be releasing a 2015 riserva. I’ve tried a couple older F. Rinaldi’s (71’ & 74’) and was blown away. The 74’ was incredibly perfumed. I’ve been searching for a 89’ F. Rinaldi for a few years on wine-searcher but have not come across it yet.

I had reached out to Piera Rinaldi to get insight on the better vintages of F. Rinaldi Barolos. I let her know that 1974 and 1955 had been personal favorites of mine, but I was curious on add’l great vintages since I had limited experience. Her reply-

For the older vintages 1964, 1967, 1971, 1997 were great. In the last years 2010, 2013, and 2015. Noting 2016 will also be great.