What follows is what I absorbed for some general assessments of vintages 2013-2018 in Barolo, and to an extent Barbaresco from my trip to Piemonte in late October.
I am curious if anyone has had any experience yet with the unreleased 2015s and 2016s from Barolo? Or with released 2015s from Barbaresco (unreleased 2016s). Please chime in!
In October I spent 10 days in Piemonte tasting and visiting with many producers or trying wines at meals/wine bars in between. I also got to try many of the 2014s that have scored surprisingly well from critics and some look backs on the 2013s. It was not easy to get appointments and many folks that said no said to come back in the spring. Late October and macerations, ferments, and pressing were going on, so not as crazy as crush but lots of full tanks, equipment, and hoses in use.
On 4 days I made no visits to adjust for jet lag (Sundays are great for that in Catholic countries), as well as give me time to do work while there and enjoy time with some friends and family there for a few days at the end.
I also don’t cram visits, I like 2 in a day scheduled and if we can fit a 3rd on the fly, great. I do not prefer the taste and leave in under an hour if possible to avoid, unless necessary of course.
2 scheduled visits allows for flex time to add into the itinerary while on the fly there, time for a long lunch, and lastly not destroy the palate with Nebbiolo tannin.
Producers Visited
- Burlotto
- Castello di Verduno
- Poderi Colla
- Ca del Baio
- Vietti
- Vajra
- Cavalotto
- Barale Fratelli
- Schiavenza
- Cantina Monchiero
2015s
The little wines are full of character, lots of fruit and fully ripe phenolics, with lower acidities. No surprise, right? 2015 was a hot year everywhere in Europe. This is great for the little wines, in particular the Barbera that fare better in warmer growing seasons. The big surprise to me where the very charming Nebbiolo wines, Nebbiolo d’Alba, etc. These delivered a lot more than in years past where for me a basic Nebbiolo would deliver the equivalent of what most Bourgogne deliver (generally speaking of course, always exceptions), a modest, simple, well made, but over-priced, maybe boring, and under-achieving (you get what you pay for) wine compared to the higher classified wines from the same grape. Not so with the little Nebbiolo 2015s. If you are ok trading off some acidity for more fruit (and complexity), I think as a buyer you will be happy here. Its just a more enjoyable wine now than say in a year like 03 or 07 where the heat was not as well managed. But don’t expect them to age like a Barolo or maybe how higher acid Nebbiolo d’Alba may have in the past.
Fabio Alessandria’s 2015 Barolo and the Cavalotto Bricco Boscis 2015 I tried were huge in relative comparison to what people that know the wines to be like, but are extremely well balanced and still finessed in their signature style. If you buy them normally, there is no reason not to in this year as the structure is there, and even decent acidity, but all buried under rich baby fat. It should take 5-7 years (or more) for the site to start to appear in the wine’s profile.
2016s
There were less of these around, mostly Dolcetto and basic Barbera and a few Nebbiolo d’Alba. The little wines here were excellent, better than 15s with more acidity and apparent structure, but also with the fruit you expect in a great year. A bottle of Burlotto’s ‘Mores’ which is a blend of 50% Nebbiolo and 50% Barbera was gone in about 60 seconds on the dinner table with my business travel partner. I am personally very excited for the top wines in this vintage as well, maybe another 2010 in the making. Time will tell!
2013
What I tasted was all over the map, some overtly fruity, some perfectly classic. Overall the theme I got was these wines did not really shut down, at this time 5 years out you might expect many of the best Barolo to be closed up in slumber mode. All were still vibrantly primary in fruit and structure. If anything, acidities are lower than a tride and true classic year. Bartolo Mascarello Barolo was a highlight here, excellent across the board in all facets, elegantly pure (reminded me of the 2010 I had a few days before and the best Barolo I have ever had this side of the 2000 vintage).
2014
We tasted more of these than any other vintage as it is the current vintage on offer.
This vintage was panned by the press before it even made it into botte to age…nevermind by bottling. Then all of a sudden the in bottle scores all scored well in the 88-93+ range on most Barolo of the best names - certainly not the fruits of a poor vintage. The critics and press, of course, got it wrong with the initial assessment, but I also think the in bottle analysis of the Barolo wines is inflated so be careful. The higher scores are from very small production, yields for the best wines are way down. I get the feeling the surprise of the better quality caused score inflation by 1-3 points on most wines if you go by that shit. Though Verduno missed the bad hail weather being further north…close to Barbaresco…who now is touted to have a good to very good vintage
This vintage is a tale of 2 sections of the greater Alba corridor, the north, and the south. The north, including Barbaresco and Verduno while having its fair share of rain, generally had better growing conditions and little to no hail. The south, well, it got hammered with hail and much more rain. This is a vintage I watched evolve closely in the press as it was the year my first daughter was born and thus wanted to see if it was “birth year wine” quality that will age. Well, my opinion on that is no, maybe Barbaresco, but even there is it worth the upfront expense of the wine and all that time and risk in storage? It is a particularly strong no for most Barolo wines.
The wine quality: Generally, the best Barolo from 14 are in Verduno. The best otherwise I tasted are earlier accessible wines, but in classic terms of less ripe fruit, higher (but not super high) acidities, and less firm tannin. Its like classic Barolo but without the ripping tannin and acidity of the old days. The worst are a shade or 2 lighter than a normal vintage, I stop short of saying dilute, as that really only happened on 2 occasions. Buyer beware, do your proper research! If a wine has a really good score, find out why!
2017
This is not just a hot year, but a drought year. Crops are smaller from vine stress of not producing, or not producing ripe fruit or producing sunburnt fruit. In the worst instances, no fruit was grown or not used. In maybe more difficult circumstances the fruit was completely out of whack with uneven ripeness. There were grapes with high sugars and great colors that had underripe phenolics from the vine shut down. There were, of course, baked and sunburnt fruit from the concentrated sugars and dehydration of the fruit. I tasted it a few times in the baby wines of the region. Nothing like this will go into a Barolo or Barbaresco, well not in any of the good producers that is. This will be an interesting one to see develop but am sure some good wines will be made in this vintage.
2018
All I had was hearsay to go by and the ideal picking window was hit with mid/late October. Producers are VERY happy about crop QUALITY, crop HEALTH, crop SIZE and the initial juice. Stay tuned!
