You did well! I’ve visited nine times over 25 years and only been offered prerelease samples (barrel sample or just-bottled) twice.
What a shame! I visited twice (2001 and 2003). People talk about the golden age of Burgundy prices, I guess I hit the golden age of Langhe visits. On both trips, I didn’t encounter any Americans and was told “we never see Americans here.” Of course, there were a few Northern European tourists. I recall visiting the following producers. I think I had barrel tastings at every one except Porta Rossa, Massolino, Aldo Conterno, and Brovia (too busy). At many of them, we only tasted out of barrel. I met the winemaker at every place and usually had a 1-2 hour one-on-one visit. The town of Barolo was also still a sleepy 800 person village. I hear it is a bustling tourist hub now.
Porta Rossa (Diano d’Alba)
Scarpa (Nizza Monferrato)
Burlotto
Castello di Verduno
Vajra
Marcarini
Accomasso
Cordero di Montezemolo
Oddero
Barali
Scarzello
Bartolo and Marie Teresa Mascarello
Brezza
Serio & Batista Borgogno
Giacomo Borgogno (hosted by Chiara Boschis, sister of the wine maker)
Chiara Boschis
Giuseppe Rinaldi
Francesco Rinaldi
Aldo Conterno
G. Fennocchio
Cavallotto
Vietti
Giuseppe Mascarello
Cascina Fontana
Massolino
Schiavenza
Teobaldo Cappellano
Produttori del Barbaresco
Bruno Giacosa
Castello di Neive
Cascina del Glicine
Cantina del Pino
Ca Rome
Roagna
Cortese (Rabaja)
Poderi Colla
There were a few others, but I can’t recall off hand. My only disappointment was not getting to visit G. Conterno as Giovanni (Roberto’s father) was away on a trip.
I second Eric, but the tragedy is that Eric has to leave the whole of Piemonte to Galloni. (Disclosure: I have gone to BYOB dinners with Eric in the past.) That said, I still reach out to Eric on Piemonte separately.
And, BTW, Oliver, I was just down at Giornata in Paso Robles this week, and the assistant winemaker Tyler Hill was praising your portfolio, as I was.
There has been a huge change since I first visited in 1996, when there weren’t that many hotels in the area and there were, indeed, few Americans. It seemed to change most rapidly between 2000 and 2010. (In that span, I visited in 2000, 2002, 2004 and 2005.)
I wouldn’t exactly call the village of Barolo a bustling tourist hub, but it’s got more restaurants and shops than it used to. And Alba certainly has much more to offer than it did 25 years ago – shops, restaurants and lodging.
Are you really sure you were offered barrel samples – wines pulled out of barrel, not yet bottled – at all those places? I’ve been to 15 of the places on your list and many others, generally long visits with winemakers, but what I tasted was almost always wine that had been bottled. The only exceptions I can think of were Scavino, Rizzi and Germano.
John,
Barolo has changed significantly in the last 8 years, to the point where we call it Barolo World. Gelaterie, a Napoli pizza shop, and too many bars and enotecas, but remarkably not many good restaurants—although I have had several good meals at La Gemella. As for wine visits, that has changed significantly too with many wineries now charging for tasting appointments unless you are ITB or have long-standing relationships. This is not a criticism though. The Langhe has become a major gastronomic destination for tourists.
I stayed at the Hotel Barolo/Brezza for a week in 2016, and the village was definitely more lively than in the past. At that point, I think Cogno was the only place that charged me, though I had some contacts and introductions.
The gastronomic tourism has been a big deal for 20 years. I’ve been during the truffle festival a couple of times, and that’s pretty crazy.
I’ve been 7 times between 2003 and 2018 and have never been offered a barrel sample. Visited 6 of the estates on that list.
Standing in the cellar in front of rows of botti watching the wine sample being drawn out - yes, I am really sure they were barrel samples. I used to have a picture I took of Beppe Rinaldi drawing out Barolo from a botti, but lost it in a computer crash. Obviously, this was twenty years ago, so I can’t say whether they offered samples due to my fanatical enthusiasm or if I actually asked to taste barrel samples, but they were readily and generously available at that time.
I visit Piemonte usually twice a year spring and fall for the past 7 years. I’d say I’ve experienced maybe 10-15% I’ve barrel tasted with. Of course there are lots of dependencies like how busy they are, have I visited before, what time of year (work in vineyard or truffle fair and lots of visitors). Sometimes we skip the cellar tour if we’ve been multiple times so barrel tasting could have been an option. Most recently in last June and Nov we tasted out of barrel at Giovanni rosso and Elio Sandri. Both of those tastings were also on the extreme side(on the fun geeky side) with maybe 8+ different vintages, vineyards all out of barrel before bottle tasting.
-Brian
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Oddero Barolo 2018 : 16,5/17 - 8/4/2022
Une seule cuvée en 2018. Senteurs typées : orange sanguine, fleurs, fraise, clafoutis, graphite, terre. Austère (mais moins que le Brunate 2015 de Claudio Boggione), il a besoin d’air pour s’exprimer.
Eight vintage all out of barrel?
Hi John, excuse my sentence structure. 8+ barrels of different vintages and vineyards. So for instance at Giovanni Rosso we tried 2018, 2019, and 2020 of the barolo normale, serra and cerretta. We also tried I believe two vintages of the vigna rionda. If the picture I tried to attach shows up we basically tried most barrels in this room and a few around the corner. I know there are plenty of people with more years of visiting than me but I’m just sharing what I have personally experienced.
Regards,
Brian
Got it. Eight vintages of barrel samples seemed pretty much impossible, since these days few wines spend for than two or three years in barrels/tanks.
3 vintages, 2-3 bottlings per vintage. I rarely take notes when I visit. We taste from 10-15 botte, then the opened bottles, then the current releases. Tasting with Elio Sandri is a marathon.
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I have not visited Sandri. If and when I do, it sounds like I should set aside the day.
I forgot to add Roberto Voerzio, shown in my new avatar from 1997!
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Had 2 La Spinnetas and a Cavalotto from 2018. Couldn’t tell much yet. Still way too young.
Thank you, that means a lot to me.
What a huge change we’ve seen in the quality of writing about Italian wine in the last 20 years. Eric has an excellent understanding of the subject, by which I suppose I mean he likes many of the same things I do…
With regard to barrel tasting, I would guess that producers mostly offer it to people they know are in the trade. Tasting young bottled Barolo is not for the faint of heart, never mind barrel samples. The best vintages tend to be the most backwards, they wouldn’t want people getting the wrong impression.
John, if you want your palate brutalized completely, let me know next time you’re going and I’d be pleased to arrange it.
Interesting you would say that and you are probably right for most visitors. I think Brian had a good point above about getting more barrel tastings during geeky visits. Before I took my main trip to Piedmont, I spent a year learning basic Italian along with all the important wine vocabulary. I basically memorized Sheldon Wasserman’s book, including vineyards, maps, clones, vintages, and history of the region. Then I wrote letters to producers (most of whom did not speak English at the time) saying that I was not in the business or a journalist, but merely passionate about Nebbiolo, planning a trip around the wines, and would love to meet them. The letters were sent via fax back then. Everyone sent me back a personal reply with an appointment. When I got to each I went into full wine geek mode, asking about their views of botti vs. barrique, maceration times, vineyard specifics, etc. So we always ended up in the cellar tasting barrel samples. I was definitely not faint of heart back then. My blood type was Nebbiolo.