TN: Some 1958s from the Langhe (Gaja, Fontanafredda) etc.

A gang of us with spouses and partners converged for a dinner to celebrate birthdays of a couple of people who were born in 1958. Don’t ask me why this celebration was held in 2017. The theme pretty much dictated Barolo and Barbaresco because it was not a great year in most areas, and because nebbiolo of that age is obtainable and not priced in the stratosphere.

The takeaways for me were:

1. Well stored Barolo from even so-so producers can live almost forever.
2. Old doesn’t necessarily mean complex.

3. It pays to be selective if you want something that is interesting for more than its longevity.
   

These conclusions I had reached already, but I happily reconfirmed them with fresh empirical data.

There wasn’t a bad or dead wine in the group (most of which were purchased from Chambers Street in recent years), but neither was there are any really great wine. Oh, well. Still a fun evening, not least because of a scrumptious veal roast cooked sous vide.

With the exception of the Fontanafredda, these were all decanted some hours ahead.

1958 Fontanafredda Barolo: When our host went to decant this, he discovered the cork floating in the bottle. Since this had been on its side until it was stood up earlier in the week, he assumed this happened recently – likely the day of the dinner. Otherwise there would have been seepage.
In any event, it didn’t seem to matter. The color was very good for a 59-year-old nebbiolo. While there was a faint scent of coffee, as old wines often have, it was not dominant at all. There were also good sour cherry aromas and some cinnamon and what someone pegged as bergamot or orange peel. In the mouth, this was very fresh, with a lovely sweetness that carried through to the finish.
A nice if not profound wine. I’d give it 87/88, and I couldn’t help wondering if it wouldn’t have been a lot better if it had had the benefit of several hours of decanting. Our host held off decanting because he was afraid the wine might have been fragile due to the loose cork. This and the 1974 De Forville were the best of the reds, I thought.

1958 Franco Fiorino Barolo: Aging scents of caramel and coffee on the nose – like a coffee candy bar. Wallpaper paste scent, someone said, and I agreed. Not bad, but unusual. Also a bit of madeirization and a bit of VA. In the mouth, this was more concentrated than the Fontanafredda, but it was sort of generic old nebbiolo. 84-ish for me. Sound, drinkable but not very interesting. I had a similar experience with another Fiorini from the 70s a year or so ago.

1958 Gaja Barbaresco: Floral scents and generally fresher on the nose than the other two. No signs of being tired … at first. But it deteriorates in the glass some and starts to feel older. Less dense on the palate; a little attenuated. Not terribly complex. 85-ish for me.

1974 De Forville Barbaresco: A step up from the last two, and my favorite of the reds. Nice floral scents. Medium body, good acid, and overall quite refined and youthful. Elegant. This is where you hope a good Barbaresco ends up. And maybe 43 years is about right. 88+ -ish on this one.

1978 Moscone Barolo: This was rather rustic and just plain tannic. “Tart, tannic” on the finish, I wrote. Someplace in the low 80s points-wise.

1980 Cordero di Montezemolo – Monfalleto: Jamie Wolfe at Chambers Street had recommended this to someone, saying the vintage was underrated. Judging by this wine, that may be true. This had a good amount of fruit. Unfortunately, as so often happens on evenings like this, my notes become, well, non-existent at this stage. Suffice it to say, it was sound but not profound.

1988 Ch. Rieussec: My, goodness, Sauterne can be good. Rich but not unctuous, with great botrytis and acid. It is in its moment. 92-ish.

Ouch…sounds like a big let-down for those older bottles…

Somewhat. But the evening was about exploring and sharing each other’s company, so it wasn’t like the disappointing showing spoiled the dinner.

Still, none of these held a candle to a '71 Schiavenza that some of the same folks shared last month. I posted notes here.

I should stress, too, that I tend to score low. I’m very happy to drink an 88-point wine on my scale.

Had a '67 Fiorina recently, from Chambers, also help up nicely, but in the end slightly underwhelming. I hope the '58 Francesco Rinaldi I’m holding for the end of the year shows better.

Gee, you use the word “coffee” 3 times in the first two notes. Who is your editor?

Oh, and it is Sauternes, not “Sauterne” unless you meant this:

I used it for two wines, and in one case said the combination of coffee and caramel was like a coffee candy bar. So not as repetitive as some people we know.

I’m busted. The funny thing is that I spelled it correctly (for the French wine) someplace in the past 10 days and was told it had no S and that somehow stuck. I remembered that the French stuff and the knock-off differed by an S. I should have stuck with my instinct/memory.

I will now conduct a witch hunt for the person who led me astray.

Really enjoyed that read, John! Sounded like an excellent evening. I still need you to recommend a mature Barolo that I can grab at Chambers, something that will be revelatory for me.

They just had a great offering of Bartolo Mascarello. You should buy this and makes a lot of friends:

https://www.chambersstwines.com/Products/42941/1958-mascarello-bartolo-barolo-riserva-1-88-l

1.88 liters? Now that’s an odd size! Do we have a king’s name for that?

I could polish that off . . . .

Lollll dying

58 Conterno/Mascarello/Oddero are fabulous! Hoping to score a bottle of Monfortino at some point.
That is my birth year.

Alfonso, The Slobberer.

The Langhe had its own sizes for a long time. 1.88 or 1.92 (now replaced by 1.5) and 3.78 (now replaced by 3 liters). The story I have heard about the 3.78 is that these were sold with five empty 0.72 liter bottles so that the buyer could decant them later.

Thanks for sharing John. I’m opening a handful of '78s in early January for my birthday and one is a Fontanafredda Barolo. Fingers crossed it shows as well as yours. And I’m planning on decanting for a full day before service so it should be quite open hopefully.

Thanks for the notes John.

Had a '58 Borgogno Barolo Riserva with lunch today. A beautiful bottle. Has plenty of tertiary action with some truffle, earth, leather and spice action. There’s vinous sweetness in the mouth along with notes of chestnut, cedar, tar and porcini. It has great volume, coating the palate with flavour and whilst tannins have all but melded away, there’s still something adding composure. Brilliant wine.

Those Borgognos are weird. The ones I have in Europe range from wonderful to great, the ones that made it to the US have been pretty tired. I have basically given up on them unless I know it stayed in Europe.

John, thanks for this post!

I got inspired and purchased this '58 Fontafredda. It just arrived and is now standing up in the cellar. I’ll be opening it up on my 60th in a couple weeks. Hope it’s as good as the one you had.

And hopefully your cork won’t drop in! Do report back when you’ve tried it.