I started buying barolo/barbaresco with the 2004 vintage, and I’ll share the biggest mistake I feel like I made early on was only buying the more heralded vintages…
05, 07, 09 I largely skipped and regret it now. Those are all drinking better in my limited experience than 04/06/08/10.
If space and budget allows, I think there are very few vintages to skip outright, especially when building the collection from scratch.
Not preaching, take the above as you will.
I think that’s good advice Andrew. If you stick to producers you know you like, the less heralded vintages are usually enjoyable, fun to compare against other vintages and often accessible earlier than the “best” vintages.
Vigna rionda ester Canale, once again , top 5 in this vintage imo
Pretty irrelevant for most at $400+ per bottle
Well tom , if we look at the top 5 producers in Piemonte : conterno giacosa roagna both mascarellos even at 400 dollars at bottle it sits on the average price . Are they all irrelevant ? Burlotto with his stellar 2016 probably soon will trade around the 300usd mark . They are all small productions, reminds me of a place France …we all know how that ended .
I cannot comment on whether it is in the top 5 wines of the region as I have not had the wine and at the current pricing likely never will. I have had the Nebbiolo though and I will say it is very impressive. Unfortunately that wine also carries a bold price tag. There are too many other options in the region that cost far less. From the same Cru, I can buy 2.5-3 bottles of Franco Massolino’s Riserva for each bottle of Ester Canale.
The 2015 Monprivato is available at $150 fairly readily, and the 2016 won’t come close to $400. I don’t think $400 is an average price other than for a couple of bottlings, and there’s a real debate as to whether those wines are the top wines in Piedmont (other than Conterno).
I m talking about CA Di morisso . So the top end of each producer .
I don’t think that’s comparable to the Canale anyway.
Greg can you elaborate for me on this ? Btw the 2015 monprivato is a must buy in my opinion cos they didn’t release CA Di morisso as it was too close in quality . 2016 goes without saying will be amongs the best CA Di morisso ever made .
I don’t view the Ca’Morissio and the Canale Vigna Rionda as comparable bottlings; to me Canale has tried to position the Vigna Rionda that way, but it’s not. Reasonable minds can disagree 
As for the Monprivato being a must buy - it all depends on how much you like Monprivato!
Eheh fair enough
Had bought the following
Elio altare Arborina
Elio Altare Giarborina
Fratelli Alessandria Monvigliero
Grasso Chiniera
Grasso Casa Mate
Vietti Brunate
Brovia Ca’Mea
Brovia Rocche
Thanks to Greg for pointing me to Brovia source.
Thinking about buying 2015 Conterno Francia or Arione.
Was able to get some Brovia Villero. Still on the lookout for other crus. 16 is daughter’s birth year so deciding how big to go.
If anyone is searching for Massolino B-21 outside of Tampa has the full line up. They have the cru designate wines on sale this week. They ship outside of Florida.
cheers
Last fall, Alex Sanchez at Brovia let us taste all his 2016’s. I thought the 2016 Brea and Rocche di Castigliano were outstanding.
Cogno and Vajra (Baudana) are also on a roll, although I’m not sure which crus I’d buy without tasting again.
Saratoga ran out, and then promptly restocked at a much higher price!
They do this; it is their business model. As their inventory runs thin, the prices escalate. If you’re looking for something specific though, they will likely have it as those last few bottles sit around for a while…
Why all the deleted responses? ![[wow.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/7/7d450e9830889c8943b674446a21b7254cad657e.gif "wow"){kind=small}
For some reason Andrew has gone back and deleted many of his posts in this and other threads.