Serving Suggestion 1995 Conterno Cascina Francia

WINE TALK
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Hi everyone- I’ve been holding onto a bottle of 1995 Conterno Cascina Francia for quite some time and I think it’s time to pop the cork. My birthday is coming up and this feels like a good birthday wine. I’m a big fan of mature nebbiolo, and have never had one of this stature before.

I know that typically nebbiolo requires a lot of air, but I’m not sure about one that is “middle-aged” like this. Any suggestions regarding decanting?

Also, any suggestions for food pairings that would work well? I usually go with mushrooms for old nebbiolo (60s, 70s, 80s), but again, not sure what would make most sense with this given that it’s 1-middle aged, and 2-probably a bit less advanced than many others given the quality of the producer. I think I have that right…

Anyway, your suggestions are appreciated! Thanks!

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If this is the Barolo, and not the Barbera, then [after having set it upright for about a week] open it on the morning of Thanksgiving 2045, allow it to breath for the day, and then serve it that evening with Thanksgiving dinner.

Christmas of 2045 might be even better, if you prefer roast beef to turkey.

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First off, happy early birthday!

That wine should be drinking pretty well now. If you can, I would set it upright ahead of time, more time is better, but with middle aged Barolo, I don’t think you need weeks.
I would double decant for sediment in the am, recork it and just pop the bottle and drink it over a few hours. A good option if you are uncertain of more air, is a couple three hours ahead of serving it, see if it is still really tight and if so adjust your plan. I doubt the wine will be shut down now and won’t need too much time to open over dinner if double decanted in the AM. You can just watch it evolve over the meal.

Two of my favorite pairings for middle aged Barolo are braised beef short ribs with either polenta or mashed potatoes, or a roasted chicken.

Also, on the real easy mode: some tajarin with porcini or truffle. (In) the summer, black truffles (correction: actually winter truffles from Australia) can be pretty good as well since we are not in white season yet. If you cannot find tajarin, Rare Wine sells some egg noodle tagliolini all’uovo that are a close enough subsititution. I use them all the time and it scratches the same itch as tajarin. Corrected: The only time we had this on my August birthday was with Australian black truffles.

On the short ribs, I’d consider adding a little rosemary. I usually don’t use much rosemary with Barolo, but the nettle type notes sometime in CF can work well with some subtle rosemary use. Don’t overdo the rosemary. Otherwise, just keep it simple, carrots, onion, Barbera (I like it more than nebbiolo for braising short ribs: better acidity and I like what the fruit does with reduction more than nebbiolo). A simple Langhe nebbiolo will work just fine. No crime in using an acidic tank fermented white either. Emulsify the carrots, drippings, etc, after cooking and pour it over or beside the meat and polenta/potatoes.

A relatively simple killer chicken option is to take a whole chicken, a metric ton of butter, thinly slice some black truffles and stuff them and the butter under the skin. Roast it hot and use the drippings over some fingerling potatoes. This dish, FWIW, is also one of my favorite NSG or Gevrey pairings.

Anyway, I hope this helps, and moreso, I hope it shows well.

Happy early Bday!


Corrected for inaccuracy in the truffle type. That’ll teach me to give information without consulting the head chef. Thanks for preventing me from perpetuation bad advice Mark.

3 Likes
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Like your style, Tucker, but have to disagree with you on Summer truffle. It really does not have much flavor. It is not just me who says so. Oliver, my cat and truffle maven, gave me a look of utter disdain when I tried giving him some. If there are any Australian left, go with that; although Oliver did not love them, he certainly tolerated them. Otherwise D’Artagnan truffle butter is not bad, and far better than mediocre summer truffles.

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Who am I to argue with both Mark and Oliver? Summer truffles are not a culinary delight. Winter black truffles work much better, but the season precludes it. We do a homemade truffle butter whenever we have extra and freeze it for year round use, and come to think of it, I suspect our summer uses of this have been frozen butter. I can check with the boss and confirm, but I bet that’s the case now that you mention it. I do like your idea of d’Artagnan’s butter.

Update:
Mark, they were Australian truffles in an August chicken dinner. Thanks for keeping me straight.

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Great suggestions, Todd. Thanks!

It is indeed the Barolo. I thought that the wine would show nicely at 26 years old, especially since 1995 seems to be so-so vintage (2/5 on Decanter and 88/100 on Wine Spectator). But do you think that it would be better to hold it? I have other bottles that would be good birthday wines…

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I haven’t had the '95 recently, but had the '98 last year and it is is pretty close to peak. My guess is the '95 will be in a similar stage. And do a good risotto with pancetta or guanciale and mushrooms. Really good with Barolo, IMO.

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Here are my last two notes on this wine:

1995 Giacomo Conterno Barolo Cascina Francia - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo (2/16/2020)
This starts with a really complex nose with a piney, varnished wood component with other savory leather and dry herb notes. Hints of dried roses and dark red fruits, both pitted and with seeds. To me, the savory and earthy notes that the wine is showing perfectly complements the fruit which is the mark of a mature wine in plateau. It will certainly get more tertiary and had an older profile than the Roddolo. With time in the glass, the fine grained and slightly ferrous tannins show themselves but are whisked away with a bite of food. I have one bottle left that I’ll probably drink by 2025. This was double decanted 3.5 hours prior to drinking. (94 pts.)

1995 Giacomo Conterno Barolo Cascina Francia - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo (4/16/2016)
Definitively a different beast than the two Barbarescos. Darker earth, leather and balsamic notes (but not in that roasted way I hate). I decanted this and left it in the cabinet about 5 hours before dinner before recanting and it helped in terms of the tannin. Maybe it was just from being on the same table as the elegant Burgundies and Barbarescos but this wine felt blocky. Certainly regal. I finished the rest of this a few nights later and it was still a blocky-er affair than the Barbarescos but was of more interest on its own. The concentration in the wine is noteworthy. Very good in its own right and excellent in the context of the vintage. (92 pts.)

Braised shortribs with polenta or risotto is a great match, as others have noted.

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4/16/2016 > 92 pts
2/16/2020 > 94 pts

If it’s gaining two points every four years, then by circa 2033, it’s a gonna be 100-pt wine!!!

Seriously, though, I don’t know if it’s possible to be too patient with Nebbiolo.

The overwhelming majority [I’d say 95%+] of the Nebbiolo tasting notes on this board indicate that the wine was opened decades too early.

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Agree with Marshall. I would rather drink a wine a bit early, which you may be able to assist with additional air, than too late.

Not trying to disagree with Nathan, but you also are not aware of the supply chain of this particular bottle, especially it you didn’t purchase it yourself upon release. Unless you were drinking it with Roberto after he pulled one from their cellar, who know what happened in it travels to the US. I’ve had many early and mid 90’s CF’s that were wonderful, and celebrated several special occasions with them… Enjoy your birthday, great choice!

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My thinking with Nebbiolo is that I’d much rather open it, say, five years too late, than 15 or 20 years too early.

Although obviously there are people on this thread who have real world experience with the particular wine in question, and if they say it’s nearing peak, then take their advice over mine.

But I cannot overemphasize the fact that almost every Nebbiolo tasting note I see here at WB ends with some sort of a “gosh darn we opened it too soon” lament.

And people at WB have to be on the order of top 1% of top 1% of all wine drinkers, so they understand what “too soon” means.

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I don’t see many Nebbiolo tasting notes on WB anymore, but most of the ones on CT seem to indicate a wine that is drinking decently at this point. Would agree with Marshall that the ‘98 is ready for consumption, and even vintages like the ‘99 and 2001 can be enjoyed today if you give them some air, although in both cases if you have only one or two, it’s probably still better to wait.

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I appreciate the point and have had some really nice aged nebbiolo wines, however I pretty much stopped buying them bc I had some recent big disappointments. A few bottles were so painfully old that they were completely undrinkable. Others were drinkable but clearly starting to fall apart. None of the bottles were of the pedigree of a Cascina Francia, but I’m just trying to avoid disappointment again.

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'99 and '01 Francia are drinking well now, that said with plenty of time left to develop in a positive direction. 1995 is a much weaker vintage and so I’d guess the '95 Francia is at or slightly past peak. But no direct experience with that wine. Last '95 I had was the Bartolo, which from a good looking bottle seemed to be slightly past peak, and quite rustic, which I gather is the general style of the '95s.

My decanting depends more on logistics than any particular view on air exposure. I typically double decant a few hours n advance of drinking a wine of this age. I prefer the wine being back in the bottle especially if I’m going to drink it slowly. Just me.

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In the FWIW department, my bottles were all purchased by me on release and stored in my cellar since then.

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I did it! I made a mushroom risotto with plenty of Pecorino (and I did a fantastic job, if I do say so myself). Fantastic pairing to this wine. While the wine didn’t quite take me to the moon and back, it was a perfect birthday bottle. Here are my notes;

Tight upon opening. Sat in the decanter 3 hrs and then leisurely consumed over the next 2.5 hrs. Perfect cork, perfect fill level, bottle in magnificent condition. Wine with just the tiniest blush of bricking, otherwise a rich translucent healthy ruby. Look just as a 25+ yr old Barolo should.

The nose is quite earthy, dark, more brooding than I’d expect. Much more tar than roses. It’s very complex, with smells of leather, freshly turned earth, and hay, along with some background aromas of potpourri and black cherries. There is good amount of acidity in the mouth, as well as a moderate degree of smooth, but present, tannins. Again, the tar flavors are more prominent than the fruit, though both are present. Florals are in the background. Tar>Cherries>Roses. Finish is quite long and emphasizes a bitter medicinal note that is actually kind of nice; that particular note being reminiscent of a digestif type bitterness. Not uncommon among some Italian reds.

The bitterness becomes more prominent, and the fruits fade, as the wine sits in the decanter. For me, the sweet spot was just around 4 hrs in a wide decanter, after that, the wine heads downhill.

I’m a very big fan of nebbiolo, and I was very very excited to try this. I’ve had many nebbiolo-based wines, but this is the highest pedigree I’ve tried thus far. Admittedly, my expectations were through the roof, and while this was very good, it ultimately didn’t quite live up. To me, it was a bit blocky, a bit lacking in fruit, just didn’t have that je ne sais quoi of the very best of the best. Very good, and I’d be happy to drink it any day of the week, though probably not at the current price tag unless I have some unexpected financial windfall. Glad to have had it once.

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Your impression pretty much aligns with my experiences with other 1995 nebbiolo I’ve had, including those from Giacosa, Ceretto, Sandrone, Roagna. Pretty good but not at the level of their wines in heralded vintages.

Although I’ve not had the 1995 Conterno CF Barolo, I would also postulate that 1995 nebbiolo in general are already in their good drinking plateau without much more to expect for future development.