Amazing '64 - '82 Giacosa posting

WINE TALK
1

Here’s the teaser – of the 10 Giacosa wines we tasted at dinner at Drago Centro in LA last night, 3 were flirting with “100” scores and a couple of others were very close.

A couple of months ago, dedicated Giacosa fan Howard Horwitz set about to create a high end Giacosa tasting in LA to see how his star wines from '82 and earlier were doing. Howard set a very high bar for coming to to this party – as the “wine policeman” for the event, he even turned down an '89 Rionda
as “too young.”

But in the end, it was worth it and confirmed once again what a genius Giacosa is.

Here are the 4 flights –

  1. SSR flight

'64 Santo Stefano Riserva – a legendary wine that actually lived up to its legend. Fabulous, delicately perfumed nose that had the 7 guys at the table reaching for superlatives. More color than I expected (but still lighter than the '78 next to it), with beautiful ripe fruit and a myriad of flavors.

'78 SSR – tasted after the '64, the '78 was deeper in color, not as developed in the nose, but amazingly abundant in flavors, with a finish that seemed to last forever. My first thought was “wine doesn’t get any better than this.” Overall I probably put it a point or so ahead of the '64, but it was splitting hairs with both in the 99 -100 pt. range.

'82 SSR – this wine had the misfortune to be merely a great wine in a flight with two specacular wines. Mt first thought was a -95 -96 pt. wine. Similar to the '78, but just a tad behind in complexity, depth, etc.

And at this point I was calling myself (out loud) an idiot for arranging the flights (that was my job) to start with the SSR’s – since they were going to be an impossible act to follow (which they were).

But as the evening wore on, it turned out to be the right call after all. We all kept our glasses and kept retasting this flight. And the wines (which had been decanted 3 hours before dinner) kept evolving. Surprisingly to me, the '64 became even more complex and beautiful on the palate, while keeping the lovely bouquet, and the '78 also getting better and better. It was like watching a race between two world class mile runners, each of whom is determined to win, not yielding an inch to the other. In my hypothetical race, by the end of the evening I’d put the 64 ahead by inches, but they ended the night as they began – in the rarified “99-100” pt. category. And the '82 kept chugging along, always a half step behind the other two, but ending up in 97 pt. territory. You would be happy to spend an evening with any of the three.

  1. '78 - '82 Barolo normale flight

After the SSR flight, we were afraid that a flight of '78 Villero, '82 Falletto and '82 Rocche (all white labels) would be a bit of a let down. And we were right – more than one person suggested politely (and some not so politely) that it should have been the first flight. On their own, all of these would have shined, so perhaps my scores may be a little low. But here they are;

'78 Villero --very accessible wine that appeared a little on the lean side. The only wine of the night that may even be very slightly past its prime. Still a very nice wine, light in color and body for a Giacosa Barolo. 91 pts.

'82 Falletto – hugely impressive wine for a “white label.” Second time I’ve tried this wine and was very impressed both times. Deep color with good body and a still developing bouquet. Clearly the class of the flight and will probably get better for the next 5-10 years. 95 pts.

'82 Rocche – very ready to drink, with ripe fruit flavors, but lacking a little of the depth and complexity of the Falletto. 93 pts.

  1. '71 and '78 Riserva Baroli

'71 Rocche Riserva – this is the wine I was most eager to try – especially after reading Anonio’s sensational review a few weeks ago. Unfortunately not a good bottle – cloudy and slightly off aromas. One could tell there was an excellent wine here, but perhaps mistreated at some point in its life. Don thought maybe it just was shaken up and needed to rest, but I didn’t see much improvement and think it was just a mildly flawed bottle. Not corked – I drank my whole pour and it was pleasant, but clearly a shadow of what it should have been. NR

'78 Bussia di Monforte --first time I tried this wine and another revelation. Sweet fruit on the nose and palate. Magically light and fresh on its feet for a Barolo, but with a great punch of fruit – sort of like a vinous equivalent of a young Muhammad Ali. Still years to go. 98-99 pts.

  1. '78 and '82 Rionda

I’ve had both these wines a few times, knew they were young and closed, and deliberately put them at the end. So that by the time we tasted them, they had been decanted for 5-6 hours. For the '78, that probably wasn’t enough. See below.

'78 Rionda Riserva – one of the greatest wines I’ve had. Incredible depth of fruit and still tastes like a young wine. A worthy counterpoint to the '78 SSR, each showing the best of what a Barbaresco and Barolo can be. Because it was the last flight, could not spend as much time sampling this wine as the SSR flight. Probably my WOTN because I give an extra point for power over finesse. Of course since I had already given 99-100 to the '64 and '78 (and overused adjectives and repeated hyperbole), not sure where that left me. Let’s call it a “98 -100” (depending upon your peference for power in a wine). This wine will undoubtably live for another 25 years or more.

'82 Rionda Riserva – The 4th or 5th time I’ve had this wine and perhaps the most advanced bottle. In this case, a good thing – developing complexity in the bouquet, similar in body to the '78 Bussia and with waves of sweet fruit. Looked and tasted 10 years older than the '78 – not a knock on the '82, which was still youthful, but just showing how tightly structured the '78 is. 97 pts.

We alos had a '96 Krug Brut to start. I loved it – I like my Champagne young and fresh and don’t like the “old, yeasty” flavors that everyone else seems to treasure. The rest of the group thought it was way too young. The dessert wine – an 1898 Barbeito Sercial madeira was corked.

Also need to say a word about the food and service at the restaurant – which was spectacular. Drago Centro is a beautiful restaurant that has been open about 6 months. Sommelier Michael Shearin did a great job and is incredibly knowledgeable. We had eaten the night before at an unamed restaurant that had earned two Michelin stars and the level of service at Drago Centro (especially the wine service) was head and shoulders better.
While all of the food was terrific, one dish – corn agnoletti with summer truffles – was among the best I’ve had. One of the best Italian meals I’ve had in LA.

And thank you, Megan Connors (special events coordinator for the restaurant) for your endless patience and excellent work in seting up the event.

All in all, a magical evening. We toasted the genius of Bruno Giacosa and all felt privileged to taste so many of his great wines in one night.

2

Welcome Mark! Quite a first post!

I am so sad that I didn’t drag my sorry ass out there for this. It looks very special.

3

Mark,
Thanks for posting your notes and to you and Howard for arranging it, truly one of the very best, if not best, wine dinners I’ve had the pleasure of attending.

Overall, I agree with all of your notes, the '64 & '78 SSRs, '78 Bussia di Monforte, and '78 Rionda Riserva were all truly otherworldly wines. As you know, I’m a Burg guy, but those are up there with the best Burgs I’ve every had. And of the Normales, the '82 Falletto was stellar, only problem was the company that night.

One really educational thing for me was that I realized that at the highest levels, I’m maybe more of a Barbaresco fan. But the Santa Stefano and Rionda flights were unbelievable, but I kept gravitating back to the former.

The scary thing was that the Riondas, despite being 31 and 27 respectively, were still if anything too young. Am I going to be around to see my '96s and '01s mature? Hope my kids like Giacosa…

And it was my first time trying the '96 Krug, which although very young is among the very best young champagnes I’ve ever had, I think I like it as much as the '88 on release. Even with my high expectations, I was really impressed. That’ll unsurprisingly be one for the ages.

Cheers,
-Robert

4

Great line-up. Love the '64 SSR.

With all due respest to Roberto Conterno and Monfortino, I’ll take Giacosa over any producer from Italy.

5

Sadly, you cannot judge Barbaresco by Giacosa’s Santo Stefano Riserva. I don’t know that there’s another wine like it in Barbaresco. It has a lot of Barolo-like qualities including a bigness and richness and this blood/iron taste.

Damn, I’m making myself drool. [cray.gif]

6

Mark, thank you for taking and posting the great notes. I largely agree with your assessment of the wines although I liked the '78 Villero a tad more. I agree the restaurant was great. The wine service in particular was world class. With the exception of the fois gras, the food paired very well with the wines.

I think the decision on the '89 Rionda Riserva was misunderstood. This was planned and announced as an '82 and earlier dinner. The idea was to drink aged Giacosa in a peer setting. I’m a known stickler on such issues and believe in keeping to themes, even when someone offers a great or expensive wine that could be WOTN. I’d love to have the '89 Rionda on any other occasion, or with its contemporaries, but just not at this dinner.

7

Howard, while I love “theme” dinners, IMO you made a mistake declining that '89 Rionda. While admittedly still a baby, to me it has the most potential of any Giacosa wine in eventually reaching the heights of the '78 Rionda, which for me is the finest Giacosa I’ve ever had the pleasure of drinking (multiple times!).

That said, it sounds like one hell of a dinner, although, unlike Ray, I still prefer the style of Monfortino. [cheers.gif]

8

Well,if we had agreed to bend the rules to allow an '89, however great it is, then there are others who also have and want to offer 89’s and 90’s, perhaps in lieu of 78
Riservas. It’s a slippery slope. All great wines, but just not for this particular dinner. Again, it was not a ‘best of Giacosa’ event, but a pre-1982 Giacosa dinner. We will do the others, including the 89 Rionda Riserva, at a future dinner.

9

Howard, sorry I mentioned it in the first place – but now we have to plan a dinner built around the '89 Rionda!

Mark

10

Thanks for the TN’s Mark! I have one bottle each remaining of the '78 ans '82 SSR’s…just looking for the right time I guess…with that being the case, do you think that the '78 will outlive the '82?..thus, should I reach for my '82 before the '78?

Currently sipping on the '90 SSR…my fathers day gift to myself [dance.gif] …fantastic stuff…I’ll post a note a little later.

11

Jeff –

Good to hear from you again. The '82 is more approachable than the '78 and should be drunk first. Having said that, with sufficient decanting the '78 is one of the all time great wines and has even more depth than the wonderful '82. You won’t go wrong with either one.

mark