I plan to try one soon. How much air would you give this wine?
That is one beast of a wine Craig -
I would do 4-6 hours and decant it -
Recent CT notes say its actually drinking fantastic now Tom but, they don’t say how much air they gave it.
Rinaldi is probably my favorite Barolo producer, dating back to late 70s vintages - but I haven’t had the last couple of releases, though I am planning on getting some 2010 - I would guess that with a good airing it should be monumental Craig - I would still give it at least 2-4 hours air -
Craig,
I bought quite a bit of this and the '09. I can’t find a single bottle of the '10. Of the '08’s that I have had which I would guess has been a case, I would say 1/2 were killer, red berry, cherry, just a touch of balsamic, wonderful acidity and were perfect as a PnP. 1/4 were dark, primary, lot’s of balsamic, black licorice and even with a decant, never reached the level of the other great bottles. The remaining bottles were either corked or just wrong. I have a friend who has a smaller sample size, but similar experience. If you have a Coravin, I would recommend sampling the bottle first. If it knocks your socks off, drink as a PnP (do not decant it for a couple of hours, 30 minutes at most. I gave one of the great bottles a few hour decant and it fell off) If not, and not obviously flawed in some manner, then I might let it sit.
Btw, the '09 is drinking very well. I have a friend who is a very knowledgable Italian wine drinker and he brought a '10 Tre Tine to a lunch and we were both disappointed, very new world, over-oaked and sappy. Our experience did not jive with the CT notes, so until I try it again, I am going to attribute it to a bad bottle (or maybe barrel assuming they make more than 1 barrel of this).
I have had the '10 Francesco Brunate LC and it was pretty good, but not in the same league as Giuseppe.
Good luck!
There is not a chance that a Rinaldi wine saw anything like new oak.
Just to be clear, Francesco Rinaldi never made a Brunate Le Coste, only Giuseppe. Francesco only made straight Brunate. And in 2010, even Beppe had to limit the Le Coste to 15% in order to call it “Brunate”. Multiple vineyard names are no longer allowed on the front label. Even Mascarello had to leave off the names of the 4 vineyards that they make their Barolo from.
Ken, have you tried the 08 and have any thoughts on how much air to give this wine?
Ken - you are correct, the '10 Francesco I had was a Le Brunate, not Brunate Le Coste.
That Tre Tine was just baffling, even more so now knowing that it sees no new oak.
Jon, it sounds like you’re seeing a lot blt variation? Some great btls ,some so so btls? Which seems odd for a topline producer with small volume of wine to produce. Am I reading your thoughts correctly? BTW, thanks for the tip on 09.
Craig,
Yes I have seen a lot of bottle variation in the '08. This includes bottles from cases that I got local and cases that were shipped cross country. I have only had very good bottles of the '09 so far, but my sample size of that one is only about 4 bottles. I am not sure if it storage, transportation or what. I do know that when the wine is on, it is outstanding, so I hope that you have one of those bottles.
Thanks, grabbed mine locally at a “late to the party” premium but the btls look to be in excellent condition. My retailer grabbed them from the local distributor so no retail shelf time. Hope I get lucky with them.
Sounds good. I am tempted to open one tonight myself, but I already have a '10 Siro Pacenti Pelagrilli on deck.
I’m impressed with how many btls you must have bought. I only bought 3 and spent about a month agonizing over whether to pony up or not. These are big tkt wines for me. I’m hoping they turn out to be the gems I’m hoping for.
We had the 2008 Cannubi—San Lorenzo with Marta Rinaldi at a tasting earlier this month and it was excellent and pretty fun to drink already, though patience would be rewarded. My inclination would be to double decant the Brunate, which is typically less forward, for 12 hours or so if you want to open it now.
Regarding the perception of new oak, sometimes I find VA gives a lift and creaminess to a wine’s aromatics that can be confused with new wood. I found this the first time I tasted in Henri Bonneau’s cellars—it takes a bit of getting used to.
Enjoy the wine!
Craig,
When I find something I like, I tend to load up on it. I started with one case of the '08 and after drinking 2 bottles, I realized I had to buy more, it was that good.
I have less SKU’s in my cellar than most as I like to buy by the case. My total bottles to SKU ratio is 28 per CT. I have no problem drinking a bottle of the same wine once a month until it is gone.
That makes total sense. I don’t do it very often but I have from a reload standpoint. Out of the gate my max purchase is 4 btls and most of the time 1-3.
Jon, the correct designation coming up to the 2010 vintage is “Le Brunata”, which is a very unique interpretation of Brunate. I assume they changed with the new regs going into effect to Le Brunate for the 2010 vintage, but it looks like they didn’t change “Cannubbio”. Bizarre.
No.
Rico - just when I thought I was getting the Italian wine nomenclature down, they go and change the rules. Italy makes understanding Burgundy look like a cakewalk.