I’ve been reading recently about some anecdotal problems with the 2010 Bartolo Mascarello barolo. Specifically, some people have complained about premature aging of the wines - premox if you will.
I decided to open a bottle tonight to check in on it, and guess what? It was completely shot - like a 50 year old wine. Not cooked or otherwise obviously damaged. Just old. So I opened a second bottle from the same case, which was better but still nothing special. Certainly not a 100 point wine.
This contrasts with the bottles I had shortly after release, which were spectacular and showing huge promise. I wonder if this is now an acknowledged problem chez Bartolo and whether anyone has noticed this issue with other vintages?
That sounds like heat damage. In what state/country did you buy yours? Not looking for a specific retailer as it is unlikely to be their fault.
Ive had really bad luck with many Italian 2010s.
Plenty of oxidised reds out there due to the vagaries of natural cork. A Giacomo Conterno 2005 Barolo Francia was completely shot a few weeks ago. Cellared since release, other bottles from the same case were beautiful. Complete waste of wine!
1 Like
I’m in Europe and bought my bottles on release in the UK. No reason for them to be heat damaged and the wine didn’t taste stewed, like other heat damaged wines I’ve had (usually in Italian restaurants). More importantly, the second bottle from the same case was clearly better - it was red for a start, instead of amber. So to my taste it was an oxidation issue not a heat issue.
1 Like
Have not experienced this with 2010 or any other vintage from MT, but sounds really disturbing
Heat damage causes oxidation, so this idea that they can be consistently distinguished from one another doesn’t add up. Plus, there can be different incidence and impact between bottles in a pallet or even a case. It can happen anywhere in the supply chain and often occurs close to the producer. I’ve seen that many times. I am not saying I know this was heat damage, but it can’t be ruled out based on what you’re saying. Alternatively, it very well could’ve just been a bad cork.
Based on the CT notes there seems to be a bit of bottle variation but of the recent tasting notes, the most negative are all from 5/23 or 5/24, so presumably the same bottle in a tasting… Most TNs are overwhelmingly positive, so I wouldn’t worry too much.
With heat damage, you can get sort of cooked fruit flavors that are distinct from oxidation. Heat does all sorts of things to wines, accelerating all sorts of processes (e.g., brett development).
I experience this a lot with wine I purchased at auction. In fact, last night I opened a 2013 Sottimano Barbaresco Pajore and it tastes oxidized and has diminished tannins.
Lots of cork issues in Piedmont wines dating back a long ways–a lot of discussion about this with regard to 2001’s, some producers (eg Cappellano) seem to have had a lot more trouble than others. I’ve wondered this before out loud, but has anyone in the region made the jump to diam or other alternative closures?
Interesting discussion. I, like you, looked at least 3 different bottles of the 10 fairly soon after release and they were all exceptional. IIRC when we visited in November 2014 Alan said the 10 was in the concrete fermentation tank for 56 days, which was a new record for them.
I might take one of these with me to Burgundy to look at at the end of the month. All of my bottles were imported directly via Alba, so they spent minimal time in transit and zero time in retail outside of the one I purchased from.
not sure if its the same thing but i had a rather spoiled and oxidised elvio cogno vigna elena last week from 2010. just assumed it was a poorly stored bottle but figured id share if this is a thing.
Some of our Barolo producers have moved at least part of their production to Diam, I am happy to note. Others are looking at other alternative closures, such as Nomacorc, Vinolok, or even screw caps. (The document that defines the appellation is open on this, unlike other well-known Italian denominations, such as Chianti Classico.)
As is suggested above, random oxidation is a huge problem with bark cork, much more serious than TCA, and it’s worse for wines that are supposed to age for decades.
1 Like
I’ve had many poorly stored bottles that tasted oxidized before they had a chance to mature. It came across just like any oxidation.
1 Like
Thanks for the info, Oliver. This is excellent news, although I wish they had started 15 years ago when I was still buying these wines. (When you say “part of their production”, are there still markets that won’t accept diam closed wines, or are they only using diam corks in their higher end wines?)
In my little bubble I have definitely found Italian wine in general presents as oxidized at a far greater rate than wines from other regions.
2 Likes
John, unfortunately they often use Diam on the village wine and bark cork on the crus, which doesn’t really make sense. The Italian domestic market is still very resistant to screw caps, it seems, although that may be shifting.
Now that there are a bunch of different liners available for screw caps I am hoping more producers will start using them for age worthy wines.
Weird. So does that mean they are using DIAM primarily to avoid TCA (and why wouldn’t there be the same concern with their upper level wines)? Or more probably that they feel connoisseurs who would be buying their top wines are not accepting of DIAM?
Weird is right.
Producers know that Diam has no risk of TCA, and more importantly no risk of random oxidation either, as the passage of air through Diam is very controlled. They are worried that the consumers who buy cru Barolos would be hesitant to buy them under Diam.