I have not yet bought because of the Giacosa and Produttori (yes, in Barbaresco) problems with the vintage. Has anyone formed an opinion on whether it is a top vintage or not?
Thanks.
I am not the best taster of young nebb, but have enjoyed what I’ve had so far.
Regarding the two producers you mention, I wouldn’t let them sway you too much. Bruno Giacosa personally had a miserable 2006, and many feel that tainted his opinion of the wines. (I don’t have access to his cellar so can’t defend or endorse his decision to not bottle his wines.) Produttori made good wine in 2006 and the reservas would have been fine too, I suspect. But they made reservas in 2004 and 2005, and intend to make them again in 2007. My understanding is they don’t want to saturate the market with reservas.
Buy a 2006 Produttori Barbaresco, and try for yourself. It’s cheap and representative, IMHO. GrapeStories/CT notes here.
Produttori problems? The only problem I’ve heard of is that the pipeline is backed up and they didn’t think they could sell the crus with the 04s and 05s in the market so they bottled it all as normale/torre. The only issue is which lot is best: TN: 2006 Produttori Barbaresco Normale - WINE TALK - WineBerserkers" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; Hardly a problem for consumers!
Actually, the reason I heard the Crus were not made in 2006 was b/c they could not bottle all the wines. Apparently it’s something in the co-op agreement that if all the Crus don’t meet the standard, it all goes in the normale.
On another note, the rumor of why Wine Spectator rated 2000 a perfect vintage was b/c Giacosa said he made his best wines ever. Not sure if it was true or not, but a good story.
Not sure what happened with Giacosa in 2006 vintage, but apparently was not indicative of the quality of the vintage.
According to Aldo Vacca, they had to make a decision to declassify some wine because their pipeline was full. They chose the 2006 because at that point it seemed like the least promising of the vintages on hand.
Aldo was very honest in saying that it may be the equal of the 2007, but the 2007 is a friendlier vintage.
Which brings me to the Barolo 2006 vintage. I tasted the wines in May, probably about 200 or so. At that point the vast majority of the wines showed a decidedly tough character. Classic nebbiolo structure with fruit that was quite dense and ripe. They lacked the freshness of the 2005 and the bright softness of 2004. These are wines that will demand time in the cellar.
As a vintage 2006 is a pretty rough ride right, they seemed to be behind the usual ageing curve in May, which may be due to so many wines having been recently bottled. I expect it might well prove to be as good as 1999 and 2001. Maybe better in some ways, for some wines with more mass, others with finer perfumes, and that’s where the vintage assessment breaks down.
The wines had great structure but as a vintage there seems to be some continuity lacking. I can’t imagine the best producers screwing up too badly.
Hope that helped.
I generally agree with Greg (and others) who note that these are big, rough wines right now. That said, I recently tasted about 50 producers from La Morra, and a number of them were surprisingly approachable.
I was also fortunate enough to spend a few hours with, and in the cellars of, Roberto Voerzio. Not exactly a representative of any other producer, but he noted that the only years that he has produced ever single wine (including all 7 barolo crus) were in 2004 and 2006.
In talking to a lot of producers, they all bemoaned the decline of the US market. In fact, one producer claimed that his exports to the US of barolo are down as much as 70%. Guess that is why I saw pallets labeled for shipment to Cambodia and Bali - I kid you not! Baroli on the Beach in Bali… wow…
A note on Giacosa (who was pulling out of Voerzio as we were walking up the drive - the annual exchange of wines just bottled, in this case 2007 barolo, i learned): Lots of changes in the “kitchen”… I think the wines are starting to lose their way, just a bit… I hope that this is reversed quickly…
Looking forward, I’m excited about 2007 and waiting in great anticipation for 2008. The barrel samples from my trip in September were amazing!!
Dante Scaglione left. According to Galloni, the last wine he made was the 2004 Barolo Riserva. Not sure if he saw it all the way through, or just to barrel.
I’m not sure how deeply involved Dante was in the 04 Riserva, but another young talented assistant left the cellar after the harvest. Perhaps such turnover is not uncommon, but at a house like Giacosa, I would think folks would want to stick around. Or perhaps there is some tension with Bruna becoming more involved?
![[rofl.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/a/a7452fcd8e675af869f8da01174474a545b03944.gif "rofl"){kind=small}
,that would be an understatement…but there were more complex issues involved regarding Bruno’s decision to basically skip 06 and sell off much of his juice as bulk wine…such a loss.
I thought Dante left after the 07 vintage.
The issues with Produttori are already well documented in this thread.
Nobody really knows what happened with Factory Giacosa, but Bruno is a control-freak in comparison to many, and he was seriously I’ll during the 2006 vintage, and this it seems had a huge bearing on his abandonment of the vintage. He did not have the control that he normally has. 
and may also have been key in the reason behind some of the departures in 2007, which is looking like a super Barbaresco vintage.
How would you feel having been given the chance to shine, and then have your entire work thrown out by the boss?
Anyway, in terms of 2006 there are some excellent wines, but they are bigger and more structured, requiring lots of time. The 05s and 04s were much more appealing, but in terms of the future, it is long for 06.
I’m not sure if it’s a rule or just the dynamics of the coop, but that’s what happened in 1998. At the Tre Bicchieri tasting in 02 or 03, explaining why there were no crus in 98, Vacca said to me, with an amused smile, “The politics of a coop are quite complicated.” (I don’t know, but you’d expect that those who contribute fruit that goes into the crus would be paid more.)
But Greg dP and others who visited the cantina last year said that in 2006 it was not a quality/consistency issue but simply an overfull pipeline.
That is the case.
06 “normali” are great bargains this year…