One of I presume several celebrations of Dr Kern’s birthday.
1998 Trimbach ‘Clos Ste Hune’–
Holy crap–this is the starter wine?! (we often make the mistake of treating the white prior to reds as a ‘starter’. this was our opening and closing wine). Medium gold that lightened with air. Rich wine without weight, fair amount of petrol, citrus–more lemon than lime, the so called ‘white’ flowers. Incredible length. Do I really need to go on to the reds?
1999 Aldo Conterno Barolo 'Cicala"–
Penetrating engaging nose of a middle age wide open Barolo–more fruit and roses, pomegranate, than tar. Nicely ripe on the palate with tannins resolving. Really engaging, tasty wine, but palate ends a little shorter than what a great wine would show. Ready to enjoy these, but early in it’s evolution.
1996 Clerico Barolo ‘Ciabot Mentin Ginestra’–
Darker, more extracted wine than any of the others. Fairly serious but still good fruit levels and tannins are approachable. There is oak there, but not as obtrusive as in some of the wines from the later 90’s and early 2000’s. Could stand a few more years of age.
1985 Giacosa Barolo ‘Rionda’–
Total switch. Very light in color, almost reddish/orange. Very sweet, brown sugar, still some fruit. Despite the color has surprising mouth feel and palate length. quite enjoyable now, but not sure how long this wine will last.
2001 Giacosa Barolo ‘le Rocche del Falletto’ Riserva–
Now we’re talking. Much darker than the 1985. Warm, inviting, sweet (but less so than the 85), perfumed wine. Everything fits together pretty perfectly with nothing sticking out (‘spherical’ if you like that term). I did find a slight marzipan element, with very faint garlic that could have detracted if the rest of the wine wasn’t so good.
1957 Giacomo Borgogno Barolo ‘Riserva Speciale’–(red top capsule)
Birth wine for some youngster. Fresher and much younger feeling than the 1985. Dark, healthy color, still with a fair amount of fruit. Pretty sweet as well. quite enjoyable and younger feeling than some of my later Borgogno’s. Bottle did not appear to have been reconditioned. The cork crumbled on extraction and looked original.
