Shy at first, probably a bit cool as the cellar is running at around 10 degrees given the cool weather of late.
Then it slips from first gear, into second and quickly into third and it is all rose petals, tea and pretty reddish fruits. It is such a pretty, harmonious and beautifully balanced and integrated Nebbiolo. Tannins are ‘soft’ and ripe. No harm at all in popping one today to appreciate its youthful charms.
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Those '16’s are so delicious.
Damn straight!
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Don’t see much on this producer on WB - thanks for the look in. Sounds great.
Very good vineyard holdings at Cascina Luisin. Traditional, a bit rustic, still under the radar but not likely to remain that way. Note sounds great!
I started buying Luisin with the '10 vintage, just on the holdings and value. Did a little poking around and it looked like a good bet. GdP convinced me a while back that the '11s from the Langhe would be the ones to open while the '10s rested, so the first thing I opened was their '11 Rabaja and… wow. A lot better than OK. I’ve bought that and, more recently, the Sori Paolin, but so far have not bought the Asili. Time to get on that. I agree with GdP that it won’t stay under the radar. They also make some Barolo; my experience with those is that they should have a long slumber.
Ha, most of my notes on the Sori Paolin '08-'11 contain the word rustic, but I can’t deny that they blossomed after a few days. They should be very fine in time. My favorite after having them at the time was the '10, fwiw.
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Good to know. The price on the Rabaja crept up, but I kept buying. The Paolins were a bit less, so I started grabbing those as well. I think they will all keep going up as time goes by–when I started buying, I couldn’t find many reviews. Starting with 2012 and 2013 vintages, word started getting out. It’s still a pretty good value for Asili, and now that I’ve got some history with them, I feel pretty comfortable about buying some.
I would not use the word ‘rustic’ for this wine at all. It is unadorned and rather pure!
Any thoughts on the long term storage prospects of this one?
It’s so nicely balanced will drink well over a long window, but I will be sticking quite a few away with expectation of drinking them between 2026 and 2036
I’ve never tried one of their Barbarescos, but my grocery store had the Langhe Nebbiolo in stock and it was quite nice. The Asili sounds lovely.
-Al
For what it’s worth (haven’t really kept up with the winery since), based on my experience with their wines from the late '90s (specifically '96, '98 and '99), your window sounds about right. Those were generally drinking best somewhere between 10 and 20 years from the vintage. The few remaining bottles from my stash have been tasting a little tired and dried out lately.
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