The Empire Strikes Back: Barbaresco Producers do NOT agree with Giacosa re 2006

WINE TALK
1

http://vinowire.simplicissimus.it/2009/07/08/giacosa-sees-the-glass-half-full-nebbiolo-producers-speak-out-on-giacosas-decision-not-to-bottle-the-2006-vintage/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

2

makes sense right? They aren’t gonna allow the comments to go on and have all their business go down…

3

Company oenologist Giorgio Lavagna says that the wine will be sold on as sfuso (unbottled wine) for use by another bottler. Until recently Giacosa had not been able to personally judge the quality of the wines due to suffering a stroke in 2006 which left him unable to work at the winery. Giacosa has since made a full recovery and is back working alongside his new winemaker Giorgio Lavagna.

Who is Giorgio Lavagna?

What happened to the Dante Scaglione / Bruna Giacosa dustup?

4

It is clear to me, both from tasting from botti and speaking with over a dozen producers, that 06 is more on par with 04 and 01 qualitatively, arguably better than 05 or 07. This does not seem to be a vintage issue but rather a Giacosa internal issue. When I visited in May neither Bruna or Giorgio would say boo about the issue, the company line seems to be “Bruno isn’t happy with the wines.”

5

No surprise. Bruno had issues in 06 and he has his standards. Those issues did not extend to the other producers. Still, I would like to taste the “declassified” Giacosa. Sounds like a Gragiste e-mail in the offing… pileon

6

maybe we can get into some decent italians for on the cheap yah?

7

I wonder what influence this will have over vintage perception.
IIRC, WS went nuts for 2000 b/c Giacosa possibly babbled it was his best vintage to date (or so the story goes)

8

Giorgio Lavagna replaced Dante after the 2007 vintage (March 7, 2008, to be specific). He is a young guy who had worked previously at Batasiolo (not a good sign imo). He is the son-in-law of the manager of Giacosa’s Falletto estate.