1985 Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco Riserva Montefico- Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco (11/25/2009)
Superb barbaresco. Almost everything you want in a barby… Smokey, earthy, spicy notes, layered with dried violets and other blue flowers; the bouquet shows alternating and changing facets of barbaresco blue flowers/leather/tar and beautifully elevated alcholol from this ripe vintage. Nice acidic freshness and fine -grained but firm tannins… a first rate bottle of barbaresco… Bravo, Aldo (93 pts.)
Nice note Henry, thank you.
Not to take the spotlight away from Aldo Vacca and the Produttori, but your note took my mind to one of the best wines I’ve ever tasted- a 1985 Marcarini Barolo (about 5 years ago), and it was La Serra, not Brunate. Still hoping to have a 1985 Brunate some day.
Back to Aldo and Produttori- If there were a lifetime achievement award for winemaking, is there really anybody more deserving? There is quite a difference between simply owning a truly great vineyard, or making some grand small lot master wine, and doing what Aldo does, which is consistently producing a large supply of superior wine, in a growers co-op organizational structure.
Dan – You’re so right. It is a feat to attain their level of quality while managing the politics of a coop.
As I recall, the politics did come into play in 1998, when they didn’t bottle any of the crus. Some were fine, Vacco said, but not all, and it would have been too difficult to bottle some crus but not others.
As I recall from that dinner at Convivio with Aldo, they fired the winemaker after 1985. They didn’t like what he did with that vintage. Still, I have enjoyed several of their wines from 85.
Ken is right that the winemaker left after the '85 vintage at the Produttori, as Giorgio Barbero was a bit curious about the modern tides then first sweeping through Piemonte, which turned out to make him a bit ill-suited to the traditionalist philosophical bent of the Produttori. The '85s were only macerated for two weeks by Signor Barbero, whereas most vintages previous at the Produttori would have had 40-60 day maceration periods. The '85s have turned out very well despite the changes in the cellars for that vintage, but I would say that the crus are perhaps a bit less deep and offer a bit less backend grip and structure than the '82s before them or the '88s that followed on their heels. But they are delightful wines for drinking now and have been very tasty for many years already.