My, oh my. Opened this bottle about noon and the cork had barely cleared the rim when it started quoting Mark Twain: “The report of my death was an exaggeration”! Served this evening with a spaghetti carbonara, this wine is a show stopper. Stood this up for 3 or 4 months, decanted it off the sediment on opening, let it sit in the cellar in the decanter for an hour than poured it back into the clean bottle until dinner. A brilliant, clear, rusty red in the glass and the floral fireworks are amazing. Red fruit, flowers, spice and tar to a long memorable finish. One of those unforgettable wine experiences. All you would hope for and more from the maestro.
Thank you Tim. Santo Stefano is a gem of vineyard in Giacosa’s hand. I have had most all of his SF wines but have no notes on the '82 riserva. I hope some day. Do you think it is at apogee or improvement ahead?
Kelly, I’m pretty sure we had a flight of the santo stefano riserva at Della Notte one dinner.
I just checked Ken’s website - we actually did this twice, although you apparently didn’t attend the 2nd dinner. FWIW, Ken gave the wine a 100 point score in his notes
I have some bottles of the white label 1996 (no red label that year) and would like to try one out; I wonder how long I should decant it for…
Nigel Bruce
Kelly, I can’t imagine the bottle I had getting any better for my palate. Still had nice fruit to go along with the aged characteristics, but I didn’t get the impression it would decline any time soon. I’ve had older bottles of Giacosa Riserva and younger ones too, as I know you have. The older ones can be quite interesting but if I had to pick a favorite stage of development this 82 would be it. Of course so much depends on storage conditions that another bottle could be completely different.
