TN: 2004 Castello di Neive Barbaresco Santo Stefano (Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco)

WINE TALK
1
  • 2004 Castello di Neive Barbaresco Santo Stefano - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco (8/6/2013)
    An old friend dropped in for a roast chicken dinner and brought along this bottle. I sure do wish that happened more often! Popped and decanted, this was beautiful from the get-go, and only got better with air. Rose petals, tar and smoke wrapped up a core of tart cherries, leather and plums, both on the nose and in the mouth. Relatively lighter-bodied compared to the 1998 Jadot Clos St Denis we had alongside it, it held its own with a graceful and lithe body, dancing around the food in an enticing way. Really pretty, and a very nice addition to the dinner.

Posted from CellarTracker
Cheers! [cheers.gif]

2

The quality here has been rising steadily, and after 2011, they will be the only source for Santo Stefano as Giacosa is not renewing his contract to buy grapes (after 50 years).

3

This was my first one, and I have to say I really enjoyed it, though I do wish we’d decanted it maybe 1-2 hours earlier.

4

I’ve had the 2001 and 2003 IIRC and sounding by your tasting notes they are consistent with my experience. I wouldn’t hesitate to buy this label again

5

I’ve had 2 bottles of the 99 and 1 of the 2001 the last couple of years and they are mature, drinking very well now in a lighter floral style with plenty of the traditional Nebbiolo markers. Very elegant wines.

6

Thanks for the update. Enjoyed this when I checked in on one a few years ago

7

This is great wine. I have a stash of '04s. But the 07’s I tried and bought (at release a few years ago) struck me as some of the best young Barbaresco I had tried in a long time. And I try a lot…

8

I recall you wrote about Giasoca not taking grapes after 2011 in a prior thread. For clarification, does that then make Santo Stefano a monopole? Castello di Neive owns the entire vineyard?

9

Your preaching to the Nebbiolo choir here. I think the one that got me hooked a long time ago was the '78 from the same estate. Cheers.

10

As they say, it’s complicated.

First, the Stupino family of Castello di Neive has owned the entire Santo Stefano vineyard since 1964. Santo Stefano was an existing name for the farm that included this vineyard. However, Santo Stefano is part of a larger hillside historically known as Albesani. So with the new laws on labeling, wines from this vineyard (both Giacosa and CdN) are labeled as “Albesani Santo Stefano”.

Now, if someone asked me the definition of “monopole”, I would say it is a known named vineyard owned by one winery. Giacosa’s Falletto, G. Conterno’s Cascina Francia, and G. Mascarello’s Monprivato would be famous examples in Barolo. But this case brings up 2 questions I never thought about before:

  1. If one winery owns an entire named vineyard, but allows another winery to also make a wine from this vineyard, is it still a monopole?

  2. If one winery owns an entire vineyard historically known by a name, but the law changes to say it is a subvineyard of another vineyard, is it still a monopole?

11

I am becoming concerned about the seemingly haphazard decision-making at Giacosa. :neutral_face: