I’ve recently opened both the 99 and 01 Giacosa white label Falletto, both were still showing young. I slightly preferred the 01. Both bottles had that fine sediment and as others have noted my approach was to stand the bottles vertically for a few hours, carefully pour out the wine into a decanter with a flashlight illuminating the bottle. Once the sediment started approaching the neck, I placed a fine grained gold coffee filter in the mouth of the decanter to catch the sediment (I only use the filter for decanting wine)
I then rinse the original bottles, let them drain upside down for 10 minutes, and then pour the wine back into the bottle for dinner. They then were placed in the cellar to keep them at cellar temperature for a few hours until serving.
I taste immediately after decanting and agree with other comments that the wines seemed to gain weight and freshness during the process. These 25 year old Baroli need a little bit of planning to show their best.
Double decanting should involve removing the wine from the sediment in the bottle, then removing the sediment from the bottle (rinse it out), and then return the wine to the bottle.
And with fine sediment, driving anywhere will involve enough vibration to re-diffuse the sediment through the bottle. You have to decant where the wine is originally stored upright or risk re-integrating the sediment when it’s moved.
I don’t think anyone has suggested you should. What around a dozen people have suggested is that you need to use better care in getting the wine off the settled sediment before you pour or transport it. This is true with any red wine that throws sediment, not just Nebbiolo. Or drink all your reds on release before any sediment has formed.
I’m probably not the best person to answer this question as I tend to like to do things the hard way and execute as perfectly as possible, so I rarely use any sort of filter. The main time and reason that I do is because I still use a standard corkscrew (do it the hard way) on all my older bottles and occasionally the cork will crumble into the wine and I like to get rid of those bit o’ cork and they don’t settle out with time.
One thing I am in the habit of doing is decanting the wine at a pretty cold temperature. This is based on my experience in brewing knowing that some, if not all, solids will drop out with cooler temps. I don’t know if it holds for all the particles in bottled wine, but I suppose it doesn’t hurt. Cooler temps will also slow any oxygen ingress and even though I think most Neb will handle the air and even benefit, it’s not what I am aiming for on the decant. Plus, I just like my reds pretty cold. If you look at the pic in the Nebbiolo thread, the '51 I decanted has a layer of frost on the side the decanter where the cool liquid hit.
Another thing I like to do is decant, put it back in the clean bottle, and then let that sit in the refrigerator for hours in order to let any sediment that remained settle down a little. I’m always surprised when it does even when I think I had a perfectly clean decant.
You can also use a light source through the bottle when decanting to make sure you stop pouring before the last bit. It can take some coordination to get the lighting just right while watching the inside of the bottle and making sure you are still pouring into the decanter, but it’s all part of the fun
I was responding to someone who said I may not like aged Nebbiolo. Yes, I may have done something wrong with this 2001 Giacosa, though I still think it could be storage issue, , but the person was implying that because I did not like an older Barolo with visible sediment in the glass, I may not like older Barolo - period
Actually, he listed several reasons some people, including you, might not like it (VA, color, lack of overt fruit, some bitterness), but visible sediment wasn’t one of them. No one likes sediment in nebbiolo.
I don’t pour the complete bottle through the coffee filter, just the last 2-3 ounces. I use a flashlight to illuminate the inside of the bottle and switch to the filter when I see the sediment approaching the neck.
Yes, thanks. I am just thinking it might be the case since you have listed so many examples that you thought were compromised and described things that sound pretty normal like the color. The color is tricky because you are correct in that these brownish tones can indicate cooked or some other flaw, and some wines do age and turn color to a flaw, but it’s a fairly normal characteristic of Nebbiolo made in large botti to show this way even when they are young and proper. Re the sediment, I don’t think that was the issue here and that’s why I stated that the recent Giacosas (Giacose? ) I’ve had from 98, 99, and 01 all to be OK without decanting. Nothing wrong with decanting them, I was just careful to leave most of the sludge behind and there wasn’t actually that much. The decanting is more to get rid of the bitter sediment and to some extent allowing air to do that counterintuitive thing and breathe some life back into the wine. The 01 is young enough that it doesn’t need fresh life pumped back into it.
You are correct - I may not like aged Barolo. Truth be told, I like fresh young wines and typically age wines that are too beastly to drink and enjoy in their youth, and when they mellow out a bit, I am ready to go.
I have had aged wines that have weak fruit and hardly existent tannins and it doesn’t really do it for me… I don’t get the hype. But I would enjoy hearing from someone about why they like them, seriously. and, of course, everyone has their preference.
The aged wine I have consumed has mostly been from auction. All I mean to say is I have had particularly bad luck with Barolo. I tend to think storage or cork issues has something to do with it, at least in part. I also think that there is variability, of course. I had a 2009 Scavino Bric del Fiasc that was too tannic to drink. I had a Barolo Mosconi Chiara Boschis E. Pira 2010 that, if anything, I thought was past prime. And so on and so forth.
I hope I don’t sound controversial or argumentative
I reckon cork quality seemed to be very poor around this period. I have had quite a few '01’s that have been oxidised, particularly from Aldo Conterno, but others too. My last bottle of 2000 Giacosa Santo Stefano was oxidised a few months ago. All other bottles from the same case previously were very good.
I think it’s a common sentiment about aged wines in general from quite a few people, and people that really like wine, too. I attribute it to whatever it is that makes some people like or dislike certain foods such as raw onions. I’ve always kind of liked bitter and sour things. That may be part of what I find appealing in aged wine. I will say though that in older examples of Barolo of maybe 40 years or more, there is a certain sweetness to the fruit. Sweetness is not quite the right word that I want, but I don’t know how else to put it. Not sweet like it has sugar, and not sweet like a young and fruity dry wine, but they tend to lose some of the bitterness and I think they may be with the pigments that harbor those bitter flavors dropping out, but I really have no clue why.
Anyhow, I know there have been some debates about aged preferences on the board. In short, some like and some don’t, neither is more right or wrong as far as I’m concerned.
Maybe you can find an event that has older wines or put together something yourself with some others who know aged wines and that way they can confirm if the bottles are sound and then you’ll know if they’re for you.
FWIW, like what you like and be true to yourself. I have a friend from Argentina who lives in Spain and knows food very well and he thinks Torrontes is poised to take over the world of white wine. God bless him, but I’m not holding my breath or drinking that flowery stuff. A friend in Burgundy who just doesn’t get how I can like young Barolo and cringes when I say I drink it all the time. To each their own.
btw, how was the Pepe? Those can age quite well, too. Both colors. However, I’ve had a lot of bottle variation so I don’t buy them anymore, but they’re a unique tasty treat when they’re on.
) I’ve had from 98, 99, and 01 all to be OK without decanting. Nothing wrong with decanting them, I was just careful to leave most of the sludge behind and there wasn’t actually that much. The decanting is more to get rid of the bitter sediment and to some extent allowing air to do that counterintuitive thing and breathe some life back into the wine. The 01 is young enough that it doesn’t need fresh life pumped back into it.
and, of course, everyone has their preference.
