This is actually quite open. Powerful wine, that shows a touch of oak to frame the rich meaty, herb infused and dusty black cherry compote. Tannins are resolving and the wine shows great complexity, partnering a roast rib of beef amiably.
The 1999 version of this one is something else. This sounds great.
Unfortunately I have no 99s, but have been buying them consistently commencing with the 2001 vintage. The 2001 Vignolo is mesmerisingly good!
Sounds like a great wine. I have a lone bottle of the Bricco Boschis '08 slumbering, and just picked up a bottle of the 1970 from Chamber Street. I haven’t had a ton of Cavallotto wines, but the ones I’ve tasted have all been excellent.
Nice score Max on the 1970…should be a lovely drop.
I have not tried the '01 but the '99 and 04 have been great. That tempted me to buy a 6 pack of '06 and '08.
Thanks for chiming in Sanjay. I have not touched my 04s yet, but I am tempted. Went longish on the '10s.
Tasted this soon after release Kent and loved it. Glad I have a couple of bottles tucked away.
Kent,
Are you sure about the oak? Unless they have changed their regimen recently, Bricco Boschis is stainless for fermentation and botti for ageing.
Thanks,
Hi Kent, thanks for the note, an impulse buy a few years ago has left me with a double magnum of this wine. I am not expecting to open it anytime soon, but good to see how the wine is developing.
cheers Brodie
Tom,
I am glad you picked up on my reference. I am aware of their oak regime and was surprised to feel it in the wine. I might be way off beam though, but the wine did seem to show a sweetish cedary nuance. I had a look at the notes on Cellartracker and there are references to ‘marzipan’, ‘hazelnut’ ,‘modern’, which can imply oak.
Should be good to go in 2050 I reckon Brodie. You will need a big slab of protein for that one.
Kent. Thanks for the note. I’m a fan of this producer and they’re very traditional. Stainless steel for fermentation and into the old Slavonian oak (untoasted) botti for the maturation. There’s zero french oak, zero toast, zero small barrels for the Barolo. The only thing that could be called modern here is they do use custom roto in the fermentation process. Custom to turn much slower than standard. No idea where the flavors that are described in CT can come from?
Thanks for the note, Kent; I have a couple each of bottles of both the 1999 and 2001 but haven’t tried them yet. I did have the 1996 a few years ago and, as young as it was, it was very impressive – tight-ish but nevertheless well balanced. Great potential.
To me, Barolo often shows clear cedar/sandalwood notes, I think it’s sometimes tricky to separate those from oak. But as others have pointed out, Cavallotto is a staunch traditionalist in his barrels, a forest of botti. (I import the wine for my market.)
Oliver.
I was tasting at Giacomo Conterno a couple of years ago, and I got what I thought was an oak note from the 2011(?) CF Barolo. I asked Roberto Conterno if it could have come from the introduction of newer botti. His reply echoed your explanation and was accompanied by a wry smile that told me there was no chance that his Barolo would ever see new wood.
Tom,
It’s hard to know what they do with the botti for the first year or two, maybe they use if for the Barbera. I guess I should have said that a hint of wood could come from new botti, particularly if it was a small lot and there was only the one big barrel, but any overt oak seems to me highly unlikely with this kind of producer. I certainly haven’t tasted it with either Cavallotto or Giacomo Conterno, during cellar tours or drinking.