2004 Bruno Giacosa Barolo Vigna Croera di La Morra - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo (1/9/2015)
Bottle 3036 of 7060. “You either like Giacosa, or you’re wrong.” A unique, if not that rare, bottling, so goes my understanding. I imagine that the only way you get better than this is moving up the Giacosa cuvees. An extremely pretty nose of sweet red fruit and roses, with a good bit of dustiness bringing up the rear, I knew right from the get-go that this was going to be a great bottle of Barolo – scratch that – wine. Without a doubt this is tight at the moment, and not giving up very much, but the exquisitely pretty red fruit has a real presence (which I think will be able to persist for many, many years). A slight tinge of sweetness as well, but the thing that really hits you are the tannins. They’re big. This will be awesomer in 10 years (or tomorrow?). The fruit will certainly last that long, and the tannins will soften. A real dark horse in the Giacosa lineup. (93 pts.)
Nice note. Good to hear it is showing so well. It was not too impressive on release, and he’s never made another one.
Slight update: “This is just as good the next day, and has opened up considerably. The tannins have indeed softened, and the stereotypical rose and tar aromas have strengthened in comparison to the bright red fruit. This shows a lot of promise and if I hadn’t already drained the rest of the bottle, I’m pretty comfortable in saying it’d be doing just fine on the third day as well.”
Ken – I never got to taste the 2004s on release (was barely old enough to buy alcohol at the time), but based on my limited experiences with Barolos, I think this will do just fine down the road. Very happy I still have 11.