Some quick notes on a recent wine group tasting. Our hosts have been collecting Giacomo Conterno wines for quite a while (a good thing to remember…), and chose on this night to do a vertical of Cascina Francia Barbera, among other things.
I don’t have much experience with Giacomo Conterno Barbera, or in fact Piedmontese Barbera in general (aside from Sandrone, which back in the day was, well, what I could afford), so this was very instructive for me. Might as well start at the top, I suppose. The wines all had wonderful age-worthy acid/mineral structure, and a purity of fruit and herb notes. It was mentioned that sometime between the 2005 vintage and the 2008 vintage, the botti used for the barbera were all replaced with new botti, and in fact the wines after the 2005 in the tasting all had a “cleaner” (but not oakier) feel, not that the wines before seemed in any way dirty (except perhaps the 2005).
The Barberas were opened a couple of hours before, but not decanted.
1999 Cadence Spring Valley Vineyard–the starter wine, that I’ve already posted on. Our hosts made this wine, which is a right bank bordeaux blend that’s in a perfect place right now.
2003 G.Conterno Cascina Francia Barbera d’Alba–Bigger slightly riper wine, with a bit of roasted quality to the fruit. Still very nice, and not heading over the hill any time soon.
2004 G. Conterno Cascina Francia Barbera–Great fruit/acid balance and tension, sort of a sour cherry/lavender thing. Wonderful length as well. For me the WOTN amongst the Barbera.
2005 Cascina Francia Barbera–A little bit bigger, broader wine with less of the perfect tension that the 04 has. The wine is a bit off as well, initially. At first I thought it was mildly corked, but this was not born out. With air the wine improves, but I wonder if this is a manifestation of botti that needed to be retired.
2008 Cascina Francia Barbera–Much smoother, pure wine, with slightly riper cherry/berry fruit. Not quite the excitement of the 2004, though.
2009 Cascina Francia Barbera–Riper, hot year wine. No roasted quality, very pleasant, but not up to the 2004 or 2013.
2013 Cascina Francia Barbera–Very promising wine that seems to have it all. The only thing lacking over the 2004 for me is age.
1998 Giacomo Conterno Barolo ‘Monfortino’–Effing CORKED.
2001 Cantino del Pino Barbaresco ‘Ovello’–A quickly subbed wine pop and poured so that we would have something to drown our disappointment about the Monfortino with. Nicely mature, tannins resolved, fruit a little soft after the barberas (many of us wanted to sub in the 2004 barbera fruit).
1988 Disznoko Tokaji Aszu Essencia–Brought by the Hungarian contingent of our group. Wow–brownish gold color. Unctuous, viscous but not overly sweet. Dried apricots, dried raisins (repetitive I know), walnuts without the bitterness. Pretty wonderful.
