Fresh nose with yellow fruit, some esters, spring herbs and grassy notes. Mid weighted with good acidity and flesh. A nice mix of extract and freshness. Very good balance. Texturally broad but not heavy. Some tropical notes pineapple along with grassy savory notes on the back end. Finishes clean. Very good. 89 (89 points)
Cool pure dolcetto nose. Some tar and violet. Light to midweighted with good palate presence and sense of balance and harmony. Some subtle peppercorn notes. Fine tannins maybe little bit more than average for variety. Sense of ease to it. Overall quite good. 89 (89 points)
Noticeably wooded nose with vanilla, baking spice and red fruit. Midweighted on the palate with surprising clarity of fruit through the forest, more wood spice. Red fruits. Good acidity and length but the wood is stealing the show. Not a fan of this style. NR due to personal dislike of this style of Barbera. If you like it, disregard my note.
A pretty nose with roses and red fruit. Mid weighted mid palate good but a little narrow mid palate. Good lift, freshness and length. Fine little green tannins for nebbiolo on back end. Overall very good. 89 (89 points)
Lovely nose with roses, balsam, red fruits and spice. Unreasonably good nose for base Barolo. Midweighted, graceful, and perfumed on the palate. It’s sapid and expansive, yet lithe delivering elegance with subtle power. Quite long. Fine ripe tannins on back end. Super base Barolo. (94 points)
Terrific perfume with deeper cool fruited nebbiolo, balsam roses redder fruit some tar. Mid weighted for Barolo. It’s sapid and broad, yet weightless with terrific inner mouth perfume. Elegant. Wild mint. Balsam. Hard candy on back end. Less is more. Firm ripe tannins. Super. Maybe the best version of this I have tasted. 96+ (96 points)
Darker fruit, tar, herbs and some savory. It’s midweighted and graceful with terrific clarity. Sapid expansive and intense yet seemly midweighted. Some Ricola. Structured yet gentle. Iron fist in a velvet glove. Long medicine balsam cabinet tar a pure cooler nebbiolo fruit. Fine ripe tannins. Harmonious. Very long. A Super rendition of this wine. 96 maybe more (96 points)
Dark fruits, tar, and balsam not he nose. It’s more obviously structured than the other Baroli in the lineup. It’s sapid, deep and, broad. Texturally rich but not heavy. with a little iron along with dark fruits, tar, and spice. First time I’ve really felt this wine had something special. Muscular yet still finessed. Firm ripe tannins. Outstanding. (95 points)
A consistently lovely set of wines. For me his San Lorenzo is my favorite of his lineup and an annual buy for me, as is the terrific base and Monvigliero. His base Barolo is an insane value and a terrific wine on its own. If I were young and starting out, this is a producer to load up on. Terrific wines by any measure, and considering price, you have to try hard to do much better than this address. Bravo!
Thanks, but I didn’t really answer your question, instead made a joke.
I have not personally done direct comparisons of these vintages (they’re all still so young, so mostly I let them snooze in the cellar). I think the overall consensus seems to be that 2016 is the most consistently excellent among them. But (also) my guess is that for the level of quality of the producers that Todd has posted about this week, those of us with mere plebeian taste (and I include myself!) will find it difficult to not enjoy deeply all of these vintages. An embarrassment of riches.
(ITB folks please shield your eyes) The 2021’s, whether better or worse in some significant way than these other fantastic vintages, do seem to be coming to market at very reasonable, or even low prices. Relative to the past few top vintages. Overall down wine markets, tariffs, uncertainty, politics all are causes. But that could make it attractive to buy from a value perspective.
I’m not really certain how I would describe it with regards to other vintages. It is in the upper tier of young vintages I’ve tasted in depth at release (starting with 04), classic style with excellent structure very good fruit to match it. It is more classically structured along the lines of 16 with a little bit more lift Like 08 and like the 13 showed on their release. I’ve heard wine makers describe anything from 06 mixed with 16. do notit is Some said 10 with 19. Lots of mixes but basically a classically structured year. I do not think it is along the lines of 15 or other riper vintages. One thing I would not say is things that I have heard like a mix of 19 and 20. 21 has some similarities, but maybe a little bit less of a classic structure to me. I don’t think 20 stands anywhere in the ZIP Code of flavor profiles or quality of 21.
Great notes as always Todd. You really nailed our exact thoughts on the wines especially the Barlo’s. The San Lorenzo was a real revalation for us and one to load up on. The Gramolere very Monforte and will need time but it’s excellent. I didn’t realize it’s 300 meters from Grasso Casa Mate vineyard. I noticed some similarities compared to past versions. Monvig another great rendition. Will be fun to track and compare to San Lorenzo.