If you love Giacosa Barbaresco but

But, can’t afford owning more then a 1/2 a doz or so btls what else drinks semi close for 1/2 the price? I loved a recent 01 Barbesaco Asili and just grabbed a couple 01 Barolo Falletto.

Depends on what you like about the Giacosa, but try the Martinenga (di Gresy) wines.

  1. Roccalini (Barbaresco)- Post whatever falling out occurred at Giacosa with Dante Scaglione, this is now his new landing spot. Barbaresco is rather cheap, all things considered.
  2. Bruno Rocca (Barbaresco)- A bit pricier, but WOW.
  3. Massolino (Barolo)- The base wines are iffy, but the Cru wines are fantastic.
  4. Roagna (Barolo & Barbaresco) - They need A LOT of time though.
  5. dell Pino (Barbareso)- Hard to find, but fantastic.
  6. Vajra (Barolo) - personal favorite.

FWIW, I do sell these, but I think most others will highly recommend these too, considering they are fairly easily found between $50 and $75 a bottle, and most have great vintages readily available around the country.

More the Barolo than the Barbaresco in mind.

Brovia.

The Produttoris are less than half the price of the Giacosas and at their best come close.

Castello di Verduno’s cru Barbarescos are worth exploring as well.

Hi Craig,

Cantina Rizzi in Treiso is also making really beautiful, pure and red fruity Barbarescos that recall the Giacosa Santa Stefano bottling in particular. The Produttori’s wines are really splendid, but to my taste, their terroirs tend to be a bit mor black fruity in general than Santa Stefano, so if you are looking for the red fruity side of the appellation, the Rizzi wines will really float your boat and they are a bargain.

All the Best,

John

Ken’s buying!!! woo hoo!!!

Hey, Giacosa Nebbiolo comes out of the faucet at my house! [dance-clap.gif]

Adopt me!!!

Yeah, Ken’s got a TransAtlantic pipeline directly tapped into the bottom of the Rocche del Falletto cask. Now if I can just negotiate the line extension to the slopes of Mount Nebbiolo. Whatcha say Ken? flirtysmile

John, have the folks at Rizzi changed something in their winemaking? Last time I checked out of their Cru bottlings - the 2001 Fondetta - it was brutally hard and monolithic with very dry tannin. Even for the most ardent tannin head a battle to get through a glass. No doubt in need of years of cellar time, but it didn’t leave me optimistic and conveyed a far more muscular, four square persona. Maybe I just caught it in a foul mood?

I’m with Greg on those Brovia’s, Sanchez is just killin’ it and the house style is magnum opus capturing that magnificent level of finesse that is Giacosa. But perhaps the closest I’ve found (using the Accept No Substitutes discipline), at least stylistically, might be Castello di Neive’s Santo Stefano - especially the Riserva - eerily reminiscent, framed with beautiful finesse, classic hints of dat brown suga, and very well priced.

Accept No Substitutes because there are NONE!

Betcha can’t guess where Giacosa sources his Santo Stefano fruit! [snort.gif]

Hey Claude! Oh, yes indeedy, we know exactly where that fruit comes from!

The above producers may be making damn good wine but if one is in love with the ‘style’ of Giacosa then those producers do not imitate that.

Who makes CNDP like Rayas- NO one.

He had some cork problems with one of his cru bottlings in 2001 – the Fondetta, I believe. I drank a number of bottles of the 01 Fondetta in 2006-08 (and the Boito) and they were luscious, except for one poorly stored bottle that was tired, and perhaps a victim of a bad cork. I haven’t tried one of late. Having gone back to Rizzi again in June, I would not characterize the style as brutally hard at all. Unfortunately, they’ve had lousy distribution here – the 04s didn’t even come into the US and the 06s are hard to find.

I was on a tasting tour of Piemonte this spring, sampled a lot of great juice - Gresy, Vajra, Aldo Conterno, Ascheri, Produttori, etc. But there was one wine that really opened my eyes, with its fragrance, complexity, and all-round seductiveness - Giuseppe Mascarello’s Nebbiolo Langhe 2008, for all of 20 Euros. Not just great QPR, but great period, IMO. I tried some other pretty good Nebbs, but that one outclassed most Barolos I have tasted - and was pretty close to a Giacosa 2005 I tried the previous year. Heck, who knows, maybe even better if I tasted 'em blind side-by-side.

Also, on the same trip, Giuseppe Rinaldi’s Barbera d’Alba blew my socks off, unbelievably elegant and balanced. Not Nebbiolo, I know…but it makes me wonder what sorts of incredible buys are lurking in the cellars of winemakers like Rinaldi and Mascarello. Giacosa makes a Nebbiolo d’Alba I have yet to try - it is available in Quebec for about $40, seems a bit steep. But maybe worth it?

Good question, craig, and lots of good info in the replies, but probably moot since after

… you have no money left!!! [cheers.gif]

Like the Nordic skiing, that upslope gravity can be an SOB, can’t it?

Castello di Neive’s Santo Stefano is very good, perhaps just shy of Giacosa’s but for a lot less dollars.

While I would wholeheartedly 2nd or 3rd Castello di Neive,especially the Riserva,I wouldn’t regard it as “just shy” of Bruno’s Santo Stefano,though closer in the white label years,but it’s a beautiful Barbaresco.

I have asked Squires to lock this thread after your post above, Ken. I agree that there is nothing else to be said on this topic!

Thank you, Bill.

I add seriously that I have recently been thinking about just how distinctive the best houses are. People so often lump together Giacosa, G. Conterno, B. and G. Mascarello, and G. Rinaldi as top traditionalists, but their wines are often quite different. At 2 extremes, Bartolo Mascarello Barolo is often quite delicate, ethereal, and even fruity (sometimes said to be the most “Burgundian” Barolo), while Monfortino almost always has striking depth, richness, and power. I have said (and almost been shunned) for suggesting that Monfortino is the most Napa-esque Barolo. I do not mean that as an insult. There is something there that always reminds me a bit of the Montelena Estate Cab. I think it is the power and structure. Many Barolos have power and esp. structure, but there is something about the way it integrates with the richness of the fruit that seems distinctive to me about Monfortino.