Sweet and sour fruit on the palate, nice acidity and balance, decent finish, nice legs - really drinking well tonight, although I see no reason why this won’t keep for another decade or so.
1998 Giacomo Conterno Barolo Cascina Francia- Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo (9/6/2014)
A shade or two darker at the core than the Borgogno; cherry fruit and menthol on a very primary nose.
Really covers the bases on the palate, ripe red fruits, persistence on the finish, and a tannic finish.
Both this and the Borgogno were splash decanted about three hours before dinner and left in the decanters to air until I returned them to the bottle before going to the restaurant. This glass I’m drinking right now is about 6 hours after initial decanting. This is drinking well, but is only starting to enter it’s plateau of maturity - if you have it in the cellar, I believe this will continue to improve for another decade before hitting “cruise control”, and I have every confidence it will still be a great Barolo in 2030.
1999 Azienda Agricola Valentini Trebbiano d’Abruzzo- Italy, Abruzzi, Trebbiano d’Abruzzo (9/6/2014)
Similar in color to the Tiberio; nose couldn’t be more different - the grape may be the same on the label, but you’d never know it from the nose. There is so much going on here it’s difficult to capture in a TN, but the one overriding factor is an earthy savoriness - really interesting/intriguing nose.
Very tangy and bright acidity on the palate; for an Italian white 15 years old, this still strikes me as youthful, and quite a contrast to the Tiberio. As complex of a white as you are likely to drink.
2012 Tiberio Trebbiano d’Abruzzo Fonte Canale- Italy, Abruzzi, Trebbiano d’Abruzzo (9/6/2014)
Yellow-gold in the glass; “brisk” nose that is reminiscent of Chablis with that seashell nuance.
Bright & lively on the palate, with a hint of Granny Smith apple. Nice chalky accent as well - a very nice Italian white. I would be tempted to age this to see what develops with more time.
Thanks for the notes Bob. I opened the 98 CF a couple of weeks ago and the only thing I’d add is that over the last few years I think it’s developed into the most satisfying currently drinking Barolo of the vintage, rivaled only by the Giacosa SSR. Agree it will have a long life and continue to evolve in a positive way.
As for the Valentini, while I haven’t had the 99 recently your note was evocative of the 95 about a month ago which was both hugely enjoyable and at the same time challenging. An 01 opened around the same time was simply too young to give real pleasure. These are fascinating and truly unique wines.
And not just the Asili Henry but the other white labels as well. Giacosa–as usual–had great success with the vintage in general. Just seems to me the SSR has “more to it”, in a good way.
Yes, I am aware of previous discussions. FWIW there is plenty of argument in favour of pluralising trebbiano, not least there being so many variants of the grape. Trebbiano is also the name of the grape, not a place (place names do not pluralise… e.g. You could say lambruschi di Modena but not lambruschi di Modene).
I would tend to steer people to pluralising the bottles or glasses, e.g. Bottiglie di *Trebbiano, bicchieri di Barolo. Or just say 3 trebbianos, 2 Barolos etc. as it would be correct in English, which is what the rest of the post is written in.
IIRC from an Italian language class about a year ago, uva does not pluralise as it relates more to grape variety than an individual grape. Grappoli for bunch, but haven’t got dictionary nor memory for what a single grape should be.
though tbh I suspect Trebbiani may even be appropriate here
Happy to amend my last post to add the Giacosa Rocche Del Falletto to my list of most satisfying 98s for current drinking. Such a beautifully balanced, sweet-fruited, penetrating Nebbiolo, wonderful right now but like the SSR and the Conterno CF this will continue to evolve in a positive way and then make for happy drinking for a very long time.
I agree, well said. In general, I would pluralize wines with varietal names (cabernets, chardonnays, rieslings, chenin blancs, cab francs) but not place names (Barbaresco, Chinon, Pouilly-Fuisse, Ribera del Duero). Certainly, in our home and language, we don’t speak of opening Napas, Willamette Valleys or Sonomas, and I don’t think Italians and French do either.
There are some exceptions in common practice among English speakers, most notably Burgundy and Champagne. My hunch is that those are wines whose names came to be considered generic as types of wine, rather than in reference to the original places. Gallo Burgundy, California Champagnes, and so forth. I’ll admit that I say Burgundies or Burgs, and it’s possible I say “Champagnes,” though not often.
At the root of it, my biggest objection to “Barbareschi” and so forth is that it just sounds showy and stuffy to my ear. Not that Bob Hughes is showy and stuffy, but just that I would feel that way saying or writing it that way.
Trebbiani is not correct, in italian you have to use the singular when speaking about the name of the wines, so lambruschi, baroli, barbareschi, brunelli etc… are used improperly… but don’t be worry most italians make the same mistake
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