TN: Gattinara 2017 - Nervi-Conterno

Lovely, glowing, translucent ruby. Immediately fragrant with a combination of fresh fruit - raspberries and cherries - and floral notes. The intensity of ripe cherry fruit grows in the glass, alongside sweet rose petal tones. Very scented and pure. Has a sweet and delicate entry onto the palate, everything is precise and all about clean lines and finesse. The sweet berry fruit follows on the nose and expands across the palate. It’s not the most layered or sophisticated but it unfurls beautifully, filling the palate and with pure and lifted perfume. The tannins are fine-spun and silky and there’s a great airiness right through the mid-palate. Has a fabulous, fine-woven texture. Finishes savoury with some fresh tobacco notes. If it lacks the length and flavour complexity for a higher score, it more than compensates with sheer deliciousness - I wish I had it in magnums.
91/100

Lovely note. This wine is a total gem and a silly bargain. I think I prefer this '17 to the '16. I strongly suspect that, in a blind tasting, this would humble some far-more-expensive Barolo/Barbaresco.

This bottling drinks surprisingly well young for Nebbiolo. Does anyone have a guess whether they will reward aging, or if you should just enjoy them early like a Langhe Nebbiolo?

They? Do you mean Nervi’s Gattinaras or 2017 Nervis specifically?

I meant Nervi’s Gattinaras generally. I have some 16s and 17s and not sure how to think of when to open them. Thanks for any ideas or speculation.

I think they age for decades. There are lots of reports that the 2016 is currently quite shut down.

Haven’t had any of the wines bottled under Conterno label, so I don’t know if the style has changed, but I’ve drunk dozens and dozens Nervi’s regular Gattinaras from 1950 onward. There have been a couple of wines past their peak, but most of the wines have been exceptional. Some vintages from the 60’s and 70’s have felt even surprisingly young for their age.

I’ve still vintages 1961 and 1970 and I have no doubts they’ll be superb as long as the cork hasn’t dried up.

I’m confident they’ll age and improve for quite a long time, albeit perhaps with an interim shut-down period.

I just received an email from Morrell offering the 2018 for $80 “on sale”!

I bought the 2015 for $40 three years ago.

That was before they started charging the hyphenated name premium.

The 2018 is a different wine than 2015. Roberto now has the same set-up at Nervi as he has in Monforte. We visited just after he bought it and again in Mai. You just can’t compare it. Try the 2018 and you will taste the difference.

Agreed. The '18 base wine is stunning, and I think it’s actually a good deal at $70-80.

The '18 Riservas are off the charts. I tasted the '16 Molsino before visiting Nervi and tasting the 2018s, and as with the base wine, there’s been a noticeable improvement. The '16 is a good, powerful, but rustic wine in my opinion. The '18 Molsino has incredible finesse in addition to more complexity.

Roberto Conterno bought Nervi with 15 being the debut vintage for the “new Nervi” iirc. They were lovely wines before, but there has been a dramatic uptick in quality and it’s not just because there’s the Conterno name slapped on it.

Basically we don’t know exactly how and what the new aging curve will be, but it’ll likely be long lived and extremely good.

Why not just open a bottle of each in the morning and follow along all day? At the very least, you can make a game or something fun out of it if the 16 is unforgiving.

Same set-up how? He made the '15, from harvest to bottling, right?

He bought Nervi in '18; he had done some work with them in advance of buying it, but the '18 was the first vintage where all was under his control. He also has built an entirely new winery facility, although I think that wasn’t complete until 2020-2021

I don’t think he had much to do with the '15 other than the decision of bottling one wine vs. the single vineyards.

You’re right. I was thinking he had bought Nervi in '15 or '16, but it was '18.

Thanks Matthew, I really like the '17. No separate bottling of the Cru wines in '17, so all in this standard Gattinara.

I believe that was the 2014 vintage

IMO Molsino and Valferana are at least very much better than the ordinary Gattinara in most vintages
I paid 80$ for the 2013 Molsino Magnum and its

I opened the 2018 Nervi Conterno base bottling last night out with winos, excited to try it for the first time, and was entirely underwhelmed. A couple of hours of air in the decanter didn’t help much. It was fine, but I expected more varietal character and a stronger sense of place. It’s sort of boring.