Luca Currado, proprietor/winemaker of Vietti was in town this past weekend and Greg dal Piaz corralled some of the usual Barolo lovers for a fantastic evening featuring the wines of Vietti. During a visit from Luca a year ago, Greg put a stunning Vietti- Barolo Rocche vertical together. This time he would showcase five Barolo and one Barbaresco from the remarkable 1989 vintage with all the wines coming from his cellar.
For those that have never met Luca, he is one of the most down to earth and charming fellows you could hope to meet in the wine business, full of funny stories and great insight.
The dinner was held at our usual go to, Il Corso and in attendance was Luca, Greg, Asher Rubinstein, Chris Kravitz, Dan Tisch, Marty Neschis and yours truly. Wines are in the order tasted, though I didn’t include notes on a Champagne and white Burg starter.
Cheers,
Brad
1989 Vietti- Barolo Castiglione
What a great way to start. This bottle was just showing all its goodies with reckless abandon. Quite showy and fragrant with sweet red cherries, brown spices, cardamom, earth and beef blood. On the palate it’s absolutely at peak and strutting its stuff. The fruit is fresh, but has also taken on secondary notes. Similar flavors as aromas with firm but manageable structure. The only thing that really separates this wine from the wines that followed was perhaps a bit of layering and depth. A-.
1989 Vietti- Barbaresco Masseria
A completely different wine from the Castiglione. Rather muted on the nose and overall a shier wine that’s much less sure of itself and has a rather ambivalent and dark personality. The fruit is darker here and there’s a strong beef jerky note to the wine. I find it a bit more elegant throughout the palate, though it turns a little rustic on the finish. A goth wine. B+.
1989 Vietti- Barolo Brunate
This was showing just beautifully. Certainly the most forward of the more “serious” Barolo, it’s fruit driven but with a darker, fresher and more complex personality than the Castiglione. There’s a boatload of sweet cherries with licorice, baker’s spices, cocoa and cement dust. Asher and Greg mention something about some grittiness upfront that smoothes out, but I’m not getting that. Generous, focused and integrated, I really dig the purity of the fruit at the core. Just hitting its stride. A.
1989 Vietti- Barolo Rocche
This stood in stark contrast to the Brunate. Whereas the Brunate was voluptuous and upfront, this wine is seriously closed down and showing nothing like it did at the Rocche vertical last year. The wine is dense, layered and stuffed with goodness including rich dark fruit at its center, but it really doesn’t want to come out and play. Tannin pig that he is, I think it was Greg’s wine of the night, but while I agree the quality is absolutely there and may in fact be the best wine Vietti made in that vintage, for right now I find the Brunate and Villero Riserva showing better. Low A now with A+ /A potential based on previous showings.
1989 Vietti- Barolo Lazzarito
Showed a little darker in color than the previous few wines and had a wildly fragrant nose that was fruit driven and full of cherries, berries, cement dust, roses, cocoa, spice and light balsam notes. Quite intense upfront and fruit driven, but the structure came up big time on the back end, the fruit receded and the wine seemed to thin out. While certainly enjoyable, it’s just not as complete as the others. Low A-.
1989 Vietti- Barolo Riserva “Villero”
The last Vietti of the night just edges out all the others for WOTN for me. This is stunner. The most feminine wine of the bunch, but there’s tremendous depth and complexity and reminds me of the Brunate with the purity of its fruit. I find it shows the most minerality with a strong cement dust element and is quite floral. The wine really carries itself well and is like a mature woman that’s supremely confident in her place and her sexuality. A real joy to drink. Solid A.
A throw in…
1989 Cavallotto- Barolo Riserva, Vigna San Giuseppe
Shows more of a blacker fruit profile than the Viettis with loads of sweet black licorice, chocolate, spice and the black char of beef stuck on the grill. On the palate, while quite pleasant in its own right, it comes of as a bit simple and one dimensional against the other wine. The flavors are all upfront and lack depth and the wine falls off on the finish. Better to have had it on its own. Low A-.
1971 Baumard- Quarts de Chaume
I threw this in as I wanted something sweet. Should’ve opened it up in the day so it would’ve had a chance to fill in. Showed better on the nose than on the palate, where it remained fairly inexpressive. The usual, bergamot, orange citrus, apricot and some mineral, but I’ve had better bottles. B+, though most showings are in the A- range.
Some pics from the evening…
Greg arrives with a bagful of goodies
Asher & Chris are happy to be there
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