2008 Piedmont (G Rinaldi, G Mascarello, Cappellano, etc.)

2008 PIEDMONT AT OSTERIA LANGHE - Chicago, IL (3/7/2018)

  • 2016 Vietti Roero Arneis - Italy, Piedmont, Alba, Roero
    The nose shows a really pleasant floral tone, as well as some sweet fruit. The palate is light and crisp, and much more approachable than Giacosa’s rendition of this grape. More airy and higher-toned, with just a very slight touch of sweetness. This has really good acidity, and there’s a minerality here that reminds me of riesling. (93 pts.)
  • 2008 Moccagatta Barbaresco Cole - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco
    There was a little stink here at first, making some of us wonder if this was corked. It wasn’t. I think that smell is some mixture of toasty oak and reduction. The palate is certainly better than the nose here. Despite the oak on the nose, there isn’t too much polish, and fruit here shows as a nice mix of red and black. Good acidity as well. The only modernist hints show up in the tannins, which feel a little glossier than nebbiolo has any business being. (93 pts.)
  • 2008 Elio Grasso Barolo Riserva Rüncot - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
    There’s a very slight bit of volatility and high-toned quality on the nose here, but any signs of overt oak are deep in the woodwork (get it?). The palate is a little clunky, especially in that the alcohol seems to poke out a little bit. The finish, though, is very polished, and the tannins, which ought to still be quite chewy at this point, feel extremely silky. While I can’t say there’s anything outright wrong about this wine, I also can’t say that this appeals to me. It’s a bit too polished and made-up for my taste. (93 pts.)
  • 2008 Massolino Barolo Riserva Vigna Rionda - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
    Of the “modernist” Barolos tonight, this was my favourite. There’s a beautiful mix of red and black fruit on the nose and palate, and even though there’s a ripe and somewhat extracted character to this, it’s rounded out by a silky texture and a glossy lightness. The tannins here are fine and silky, but this is certainly far from being fully ready to drink. (93 pts.)
  • 2008 Schiavenza Barolo Prapò - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
    I’ll admit that I just didn’t get this wine at all. The nose seemed to have some oaky characteristics, though my understanding is that this is a full-on traditional producer. Initially, this was very high-toned and I picked up some balsamic notes, and the black fruit here feels super extracted. The palate is tannic, hard, and bracing. For some reason this feels really heavy-handed to me. Not a pretty wine (as in my mind, Barolo ought to be). (93 pts.)
  • 2008 Giuseppe Rinaldi Barolo Cannubi San Lorenzo Ravera - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
    Silky red fruit on the nose and palate here. This is obviously very, very young, and you can tell that there seems to be more stuff that is coiled under the veneer of florals and red cherry. In fact, this is a very powerfully structured wine, with lots of acidity and tannin on the back end. It’s just that right now, this has yet to have shed its fruit, so that big structural frame isn’t that obvious. (93 pts.)
  • 2008 Giuseppe E Figlio Mascarello Barolo Monprivato - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
    #10999. This is a wine that isn’t showing too well right now. The nose, certainly has some beautiful elements, but it feels like I’m experiencing it through a veil that needs to be lifted. The same goes on the palate. There could be so much more, but it’s muted. What fruit I could pick up is soft and pretty, and even on the palate, I sense it more as a perfume than as a taste. The tannins are a little coarse (perhaps the only thing not super elegant about this wine), but I suppose they’ll soften up with more time. (93 pts.)
  • 2008 Cappellano Barolo Piè Rupestris Otin Fiorin (Gabutti) - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
    My favourite wine on the table tonight. Despite the time and age difference, this reminds me very much of the 2011 that I opened on release. However, this is even more elegant, red-fruited, and perfumed than that. The fruit is very ripe, but not sweet or cloying. The tannins are velvety but unresolved. I’m very surprised at how well this is drinking right now; this still seems to be fairly open for business. Of course, I wouldn’t be caught dead opening one of my own bottles right now.

Massolino Vigna Rionda is about as far from a “Modernist” rendition of Barolo as you can get

I don’t find Barolo to be ‘pretty’ at all. At 14-15% alcohol, it’s hard to be pretty, and most likely, you are the bad boy in the room staring down the class to see who will blink first. The oafish country cousin you try to dress up in fine clothes but the country bumpkin is hiding just under the surface. You want ‘pretty’, go to Burgundy. [snort.gif]

Wonderful, vivid notes, Adrian! Thanks a bunch. It’s great to get a survey of the vintage at this stage.

I had thought that they were doing barrique on some wines up until pretty recently. Possibly fake news?

Pretty, to me, has nothing to do with alcohol levels. I’m looking for perfumed florals and red fruit. I even found a recent 1978 Nacional pretty. That’s hardly a low alcohol wine.

I think the Vigna Rionda was always in large casks. The cantina’s website says the Vigna Rionda is raised in casks, versus “large oak barrels” for the Margheria and unspecified “oak barrels” for the Parafada and Parussi. Ken V or someone will know more details and any changes, I’m sure.

Well, I’ve always liked the wines I’ve had from this producer and thought of them as traditionalists. So, I looked up their website and for the Vigna Rionda, it says “… 3.5 years in traditional large Slavonian oak barrels and 2.5 years in the bottle.”

The unspecified oak barrels are almost certainly allier botti. For their nebb-based wines, I didn’t see any small oak (and most were 10,000L barrels) when I visited them a year and a half ago

You guys are thinking of the Parafada, which I believe stopped seeing New Oak around 2006.

Correct, Parafada saw some barrique from 1990-2006 I believe? Since then it, along with the other Baroli Massolino produces, has only been raised in Botti

Well, they will be pretty in 25 years when beginning to get mature

Does anyone have an overall impression of the vintage in Piedmont? Anniversary year wine for us and 2008 is relatively slim across the rest of the wine world (plus we like Nebbiolo).

A. So rates the vintage a 93 I’m guessing.

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Bill Klapp (deactivated)

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Barolo buying strategy re 2011.
Post #59 Postby Bill Klapp (deactivated) » December 7th 2015, 9:43am
2008-My question here is “where did ANYBODY get the foolish notion that this vintage is the logical successor to 2004 and 2006?” Even Galloni offered up assessments like “good, not great” on his first pass, and “far better than expected” and “gracious, medium-bodied wines” on his final pass, while warning about inconsistent quality. I am betting that the “received wisdom” that John and I were discussing above missed the boat to some degree in every vintage after 2006, but this is a missed boat that would seem to be on the shoulders of consumers more than reviewers. In 2008, we can start the bidding with another mediocre Barbaresco vintage, one in which the Cortese Rabaja’ Riserva could end up being wine of the vintage. The sole exception would seem to be a decent set of Produttori Riserve. There was an even clearer split of opinion between Galloni and Tanzer, and on balance, the relatively unimpressed Tanzer had the best of it. The wines of Brovia, Burlotto and all of the modernists were no better than good. Vietti had a shockingly weak vintage. The G. Conterno Ceretta, still being called “Nebbiolo” at that point, was mediocre or worse, and both the Cascina Francia and Monfortino rather average compared to their siblings in 2004 and 2006. Giacosa made one very good but not legendary riserva. Aldo Conterno, Gaja and Sandrone were all solid but not great. It seems that the vintage’s reputation hangs only upon a few outperformers, like Elio Grasso, Mauro Mascarello’s Monprivato and Morissio, MT Mascarello’s Bartolo and G. Rinaldi Brunate-Le Coste, and in large part, because the latter two were so highly perfumed, delicate and accessible, both quite antithetical to the notion of a classic, age-worthy vintage. The median quality is decent, but with more quality swings than one expects in a strong vintage, and with no truly great wines. Like everyone else, I bought some 2008s, but I bought banking upon medium-term drinking. I am betting that there will still be a lot of unopened 2007s in my cellar when I drink my last 2008, and probably a few 2009s as well. And the greatest tragedy of all? Some loose talking by Galloni and the early accessibilty afforded by a lightweight 2008 vintage led poor Michael S. Monie to found the Church of the Blessed New Paradigm…

Thanks Michael. Looks like I won’t be holding the ones I have cellared for our 25th or later. Or maybe even he 15th.

I will get an e-mail from Klapp for saying this, but I wouldn’t necessarily treat that post of his as the gospel. Bill preferred 2007.

Here’s Greg dal Piaz’s take on the 2008s tasted in 2013:

Wine after wine showed a lean, racy character [when tasted in 2012] with terrific perfumes and pure, bright, crystalline fruit. The wines were fairly structured early on, if not large-scaled, and I had hoped that they would continue to gain weight and depth in the bottle, as Nebbiolo based wines so often do.

I was not disappointed by the wines I was able to taste [in 2013]. In fact, they have gained depth and complexity after a year in the bottle while retaining the hallmark freshness of the vintage. To be clear, not all the wines thrilled me; it was a vintage where winemakers needed to tread lightly and use a gentle touch if they were to be able to capture the essence of the vintage.

Here are his notes on his 2012 tastings of the '08s in Piedmont.

Jeff,

The vintage is outstanding, and good producers made superb wines that should easily make it 25 years and more. The wines will evolve based on their balance and structure, provided more by acidity than tannin. The wines tend to bright red fruit, with great lift due to the acidity. I tasted Brovia, Burlotto, Vajra, G Rinaldi, Bartolo Mascarello, Giuseppe Mascarello (Monprivato), Produttori, Cappellano, G Conterno and Massolino and numerous others I don’t recall right now, and the wines were superb across the board. I bought 30 cases. If I was you, I wouldn’t worry.

Tom

Vigna Rionda also saw some barrique, most notable I think with the 1999 and 2000 vintages, and the dieci anni riservas in particular. I believe the 99 was a really different wine than the earlier release with much more barrique in the wine. Might be the 2000 but i don’t have my notes here at the moment.

Franco stopped buying barrique after the 2006 vintage but they were still used for several more years, just no new barrique.

Glad to see that the wines don’t suck at age 10. Mediocre vintage and all.

So you’re not keen on the '08s now, Greg?