Ten year reassessment of 2008 Barolo/Barbaresco

This was our “ten years” assessment of the 2008 vintage. We tasted 9 barbaresco’s and barolo’s, producers we follow and know fit our preferred style. Wines were double decanted 3-4 hours ahead of the tasting.

The wines were all high quality without any flawed bottles. But overall, I felt the wines had a bit of ‘sameness’ to them–a bit like comparing a flight of 2002 burgundies. In fact, it was initially hard for me to tell much of a difference between the three produttoris. I don’t mean this in a pejorative sense, as they were all very good. Perhaps it’s the vintage, or the night for me, or perhaps just still a little too young. With time, the wines differentiated somewhat.



2008 Produttori Barbaresco Riserva ‘Muncagota’–Cool, a little restrained ripe cherry, a bit more tannic than the following wines, beautiful balance and structured length. Very good showing for this bottling, some thought it was transitioning away from primary characteristics a little earlier than the following two wines.


2008 Produttori Barbaresco Riserva ‘Rabaja’–A little reticent at first, but ultimately sweeter. Beautiful broad red cherry fruit, great mouth filling structure that goes on for a long time on the palate. Will be a great wine. Still seems a bit young.


2008 Produttori Barbaresco Riserva ‘Asili’–Riper, darker, black cherry fruit, nicely structured. A bit of a coin flip as to which of these latter two wines is the “best”. These produttori’s, at least as of tonight, have yet to really develop the penetrating nose that I would expect them to have, but it’s only a matter of time.


2008 Marchesi di Gresy Barbaresco ‘Camp Gros’–very pretty, more forward nose–much more aromatic for me than the first three wines. Palate is lighter and less complex, and has a slightly overripe, or slightly oxidized component which detracts a bit. Still a pleasure, although last in line of the wines tonight.


2008 Brovia Barolo Ca’ Mia–Cooler deeper wine, very clean, pure feel with a panoply of fruit and flowers with some tar. Moderate in palate density and manages to be somewhat light on it’s feet yet with great flavor intensity. Grew on me as the night went on


2008 Vietti Barolo ‘Rocche’–Ripe, richer, a little lush on the palate. More oak influence than the other wines, and in my mind this narrows the fruit spectrum that one gets from the wine. I’m not really a fan of the Vietti style in their upper level wines, even though I understand the Rocche is supposed to have the least oak influence.


2008 Sandrone Barolo ‘Cannubi Boschis’–Balanced, clean, aristocratic wine, with everything in it’s place. Really very well done, and a fine wine. Someone in the group called it a “textbook” wine, but meant that in a pejorative sense, saying that it tasted exactly like every other Sandrone wine he’d ever had. If you are a Sandrone lover, this is a very good wine.


2008 Giacomo Conterno Barolo ‘Cascina Francia’–Prominent minty note on the nose (others just called it vegetal), significantly lighter weight than the other wines, but good structure and fine length. This had a different feel from the other wines in the group, and one wanted to double check the vintage. Interestingly, I remember other Cascina Francias not showing well at our ten year tastings. I think it may just be a bad time to try them.


2008 Giuseppe Rinaldi Barolo ‘Brunate Le Coste’–Knock-out nose with darker fruit, flowers, tar, brown spices. One immediately felt that this was the wine to outclass them all. The initial palate reflects the nose, but then the mid-palate is somewhat lacking and flat, and the wine is fairly short, particularly in comparison with the wines before. Hard to know what to make of this wine. I don’t have much experience with Rinaldi, so I have anything for a comparison.



Overall, a very promising year and this tasting is very encouraging. As is usual, the Produttori wines stand out with their amazing QPR.

Thanks for the report, John. I never bought many 08s, which was probably a mistake.

Yeah, john–neither did I. I thought it was silly to be buying wines at my age that would take 20-30 years to mature, but of course then I bought 2010’s and a few 2013’s. Only one of the wines came from my cellar–all of the rest were from Don Kern’s, the Piedmont collector in our group.

Very interesting and helpful notes. I have a fair bit of the Produttori Rabaja and Asili and haven’t opened one since release. I also have a good stash of the Montestefano (a personal favorite). Sounds like I should continue waiting.

I recently opened the Cascina Francis and liked it a bit more than you did. I too found it lighter but I loved the delicacy and brightness and layered red fruits.

My favorite 08 Barolo by a huge margin is the Bartolo Mascarello. I’ve had it three times (including a couple weeks ago) and each time it has been phenomenal.

Thank you for posting John. Great notes. Also great comments from others. I liked the 2008 vintage when tasting a few back on a 2013 trip IIRC. I bought a couple of mixed cases worth of 08s. Since then I’ve only opened 2 (both in 2018): Massolino Vigna Rionda Riserva, (August) which I found surprisingly thin and underwhelming (Dumb phase?), and in December the Azeliar Margheria which was excellent but VERY young. My initial view of the vintage as a classic vintage that should age well overall hasn’t changed, so I’m in no rush to plow into them.

Ryan–it would have been great to include a Bartolo, but we have to keep the cost of the tasting down, and there is a supply issue, as it has become fairly hard to get, and price gone a bit wild.

Perhaps terroir is made out to be more than it truly is?

I had a few of the ‘08 Produttori wines blind a few weeks ago, and they generally seemed quite closed. The ‘07s served in a separate flight showed much more open, as well as showing good development. We had Montestefano, Rabaja and Ovello, and they were clearly different, at least with the ‘07s. The ‘08s were hard to separate.

Oh, dear. I see we exhibit exactly the same symptoms.

Depends upon the vintage, Methinks. Some vintages are more transparent than others.

Agree re: depends upon the vintage. As with Burgundy, in some vintages, vintage is the dominant influence while terroir is the dominant influence in other vintages.

Great notes. Thanks. I started buying Barolo in the 2010 vintage but have one bottle of 2008 Luigi Baudana Ceretta that I was thinking about opening soon. May try to hold off until 2023 now.

Yes, I’d hold off on the Baudana. It’s from Serralunga and the Baudana wines are very dense. If I had a bunch of 08s, I’d try other things before that.

Yes, I’d hold off on the Ceretta. I think I remember last year that Francesca said the regular Barolo was starting to open up, so if you have that, you could try. (I could also be misremembering. I missed her visit this year).

Thanks for the notes John, and good discussion. I have a few cases of 2008 but for the most part am still acquiring this vintage (along with 2001, 2004, 2006, 2010). These seem like they need at least another 5+ years, at least to my taste. so instead am focusing in backfilling.