Piedmont tasting that was quite educational because I haven’t had the modernists together to do a comparison before. On the spectrum Clerico was the most oaky and extracted by far, and agree with a friend who always maintained that Altare and Sandrone (not present today) are the best modernists. But no doubt my heart belonged to the traditionalists today, in particular the transcendental Giacosa red label. Think we drink to chase these fleeting moments where the wine imparts such emotions and speaks so clearly to you
NV Marc Hébrart Champagne Premier Cru Brut Rosé- France, Champagne, Champagne Premier Cru
Brought this to kick things off. Always a consistent winner with fresh, creamy strawberry fruit. (92 pts.)
2004 Domenico Clerico Barolo Ciabot Mentin Ginestra- Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
Served as trio of '04, '06, '08 vertical. Was the only thought that this was the oldest since the tannins were drying out the most (that was saying something since all of them had ferocious, unforgiving tannins). Minty, spicy nose; not enough fruit on the palate to stand up to the harsh tannins. A mess of a wine. (80 pts.)
2006 Domenico Clerico Barolo Ciabot Mentin Ginestra- Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
My contribution. Served as trio of '04, '06, '08 vertical. Had the most supple, sweetest fruit of the trio to withstand the oak treatment, but still had distracting drying tannins. (90 pts.)
2008 Domenico Clerico Barolo Ciabot Mentin- Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
Served as trio of '04, '06, '08 vertical. Was the only one who thought this was the youngest, but was clear to me from inky, purple fruit. Fans of big South American Cabs and wines with a bitter finish would be fans of this. (80 pts.)
2004 Domenico Clerico Barolo Percristina- Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
Tasted like a modern, international right-bank Bordeaux. Oaky, tannic and over-extracted; this came after the Ciabot Mentin trio and had a similar producer signature but dialled up by several notches. Was saying that Nebbiolo should have sweet, not bitter fruit. Had a sip and poured it out. (70 pts.)
2004 Gaja Langhe Nebbiolo Sperss- Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Langhe DOC
Clearly modern with the spice and menthol notes but not overly so. Still very youthful so I guessed 2010. Explosive nose of pretty cherry fruit but the palate lacked the same punch. (92 pts.)
2006 Giuseppe E Figlio Mascarello Barolo Monprivato- Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
Coincidentally we had two bottles of this. The one that was opened since the morning was glorious; silky and sensual red fruit with a tannic bite that led me to consistently guess all the G. Mascarellos as Bartolo on the night. Unfortunately the one that was popped and poured was all tannins and not very giving. (94 pts.)
2006 Giuseppe E Figlio Mascarello Barolo Santo Stefano di Perno- Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
Similar to the Monprivato but much more approachable. Intense cherry fruit, superb nose and texture on the palate. More pleasurable now but less structure to age than the Monprivato. A very pretty wine. (94 pts.)
2004 Giuseppe E Figlio Mascarello Barolo Monprivato- Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
Dibbs (see note below) who brought it opened this in the morning for dinner. Wrongly guessed Bartolo again. Sweet strawberry fruit, scent of rose petals. Loved the silky texture but tannins were still a bit harsh now. Immaculate wine that has a lot more to give. (94 pts.)
2006 Poderi Aldo Conterno Barolo Romirasco- Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
I knew the identity of this wine but would have thought modern if blinded because of the savoury, tarry notes. Decadent wine with rich, creamy dark fruit; usually not my preferred style but wasn’t offended by this. (93 pts.)
2008 Roagna Barbaresco Pajè- Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco
Pretty Roagna nose, with sweet dark cherry fruit. Think I prefer the later iterations of Roagna which have more lift and etherealness. Felt like an in-between phase similar to the transition period for old and new Faiveleys, if you get my drift. (91 pts.)
2008 Elio Altare Barolo Vigneto Arborina- Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
Similar to the '09 Langhe Arborina that I had a few weeks ago but this had more structure and was less pretty. Clearly modern but with well-judged oak use that allowed the wine to stay true to its varietal. Sensual texture with silky, dark maraschino cherries. (93 pts.)
2010 Cavallotto Barolo Bricco Boschis- Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
Incredibly tannic, with black spicy fruit that made it borderline undrinkable. (80 pts.)
2013 Bartolo Mascarello Langhe Nebbiolo- Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Langhe DOC
My extra. I recall when I had this wine in 2019 it really opened up my eyes to how elegant Nebbiolo can be, glad to say 5 years later the wine is still going strong. Understated, restrained dark red fruit with an elegant, sensual texture. Not going to improve any further but such a pleasurable drink. (93 pts.)
1998 Bruno Giacosa Barbaresco Riserva Santo Stefano- Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco
Had a sniff and sip, and said that this is fucking Giacosa. Don’t think I need to elaborate beyond that, except to say it’s rare to find a wine like this that is firing on all cylinders. So weightless and perfectly balanced, a wish-you-were-here kind of wine for sure. (96 pts.)
A shame to read of so many wines either wound up rock tight, or where oak tannins achieved similar or worse effect. I suppose it let those that shone, to do so more brightly.
My initial reaction to your blind guess on the Aldo Conterno was ‘good guess’, as despite a prior reputation as solidly traditional, their level of experimentation has me assuming they were back then (perhaps still are) much more like modernists.
I would expect many producers perceived as “lower tier” to perform well. I guess your comment is more a reflection of linking quality to price - a reoccurring themes.
Great write up with interesting observations - thanks!
Out of curiosity related to the below:
Correct to understand it as you associating spices and menthol with modern wines?
For me personally I get that with traditional wines as well, especially the menthol but also spices. Maybe a difficult question but is there a certain type of spices that you associate more with modern made nebbiolos?
@Ian_Sutton I think most of the wines showed as I would’ve expected them to, which really shows that Nebbiolo and oak really do not go together! I haven’t had any recent A. Conternos but like many modernists, have heard that they have dialled back on modernist tendencies. Agree with a comment somewhere else that the distinction was useful int he 90s/00s, but perhaps less so now!
@Mikael_OB Agree that these producers are definitely not middling to me at least for my wallet! Was lucky to have tasted these producers side-by-side as it is not a common occurrence for me to drink these wines. On the spice/menthol note, think modern producers have more overt tones of these that dominate the fruit compared to traditional ones where the purity of fruit is at the forefron (at least from this sample). But agree spice/menthol notes can come from anywhere, be it oak or whole cluster.
Other than the Cavallotto (I haven’t had the '10 recently, but I consider them a solid producer - the '04 recently was really good - I would guess you had a bad bottle), these notes seem in line w/ what I would have expected.
I haven’t sought out much Domenico Clerico, but the limited examples I’ve had such as the '04 and the '99 have been oaky messes. I don’t prefer oak in Nebbiolo at all, but I’ve had some good experiences with wines aged in new oak (90s-00s Azelia, Paolo Scavino) - Clerico has not been close to those. The one good Clerico experience I’ve had was with the 1990, which I think used less oak than he used in the late 90s - early 00s.
Giuseppe Mascarello can be amazing, but I’ve become increasingly frustrated about the inconsistency of bottles, even ones from the same case / purchased on release. The '06 at a dinner I attended recently was bought on release and not corked, but flawed in some way. I bought a ~case of '04s and the first bottle was incredible, similar notes to you, but subsequent bottles have all seemed flawed - but not seemingly heat damaged, not corked, just mysteriously off.
I’ve had the '10 twice in the last 9 months and neither time did it show as your bottle did. We enjoyed it both times. I suspect the bottle in your cellar will be more pleasurable.
Great notes, Melvin. Thx. Seems like the Roagna didn’t quite show super well. I still don’t have a firm grasp of when’s the ideal bottle age to drink the Paje…
Separately, I feel like Nebiollo-themed dinners require more coordination given the relative importance of decanting on how a wine shows.
With that being said, I’m glad you guys enjoyed some Santo Stefano, maybe my favorite Neb wine. Feels like a relative value given how other trophy wines have climbed in price whereas it’s just like 2x what it was 10-15 yrs ago.
I was at the same dinner as Melvin. Cavallotto was the most surprising wine out of the lot because it was almost undrinkable. It showed like some of the Clericos earlier. Most probably it is a bad bottle. In my experience, Cavallotto can be a bit overripe sometimes but doesn’t come across like a modern producer.
Cavallotto uses rotofermentors and long macerations. Thereafter aged in neutral large botti. An interesting mix of “modernist” and “traditionalist” techniques although I don’t really subscribe to the dichotomy of those terms.
I find the Bricco Boschis and San Giuseppe Riserva in particular stand out in blind tastings due to their dark extracted colour and characteristics of blackcurrant and cedar (albeit the cedar characteristic isn’t coming from oak). They can be wildly tannic and need a very very long time to not seem like tannin monsters.
From the Cavallotto website - “The slow rotating action of the blades (made specifically for this purpose) in the horizontal rotofermentors allow us to keep the floating skins below the level of the fermenting liquid for a long, semi-submerged-cap maceration.”
On Roagna, I think Melvin’s observation is right that the more recent vintages are much better. I did a dinner a year ago of 2007/2008 Roagna and the 2003/2004/2005 Roagna Vigna Rionda and the wines were overall disappointing (most were good, but not exciting). I think by ~2013 the style had improved quite a bit with more freshness and lift, and that is even more pronounced in the more recent vintages I think. Had a '13 Paje last week which was beautiful to drink now or over the next 10 years or so. Roagna’s style, even now, does have this sense of being both mature and youthful at the same time.
The one exception to the above I’ve had from that time period is the 2006 Riserva Pira, which is a recent release and an absolutely top notch wine. I’m sure the Crichet Pajes also perform well from that period (I’ve had the '04 and it was very nice, but not incredible) but the “regular” Roagna wines are iffy back then.
Cavallotto’s use of rotofermenters is nothing like the De Grazia modernistos, though. I believe they set it to turn once a day, or something like that. Oliver McCrum, who imports the wine on the West Coast, has explained this several times here. As your quote from their website makes clear, it just serves as a mechanized punching down.
Exactly, John. Alfio Cavallotto and his brother Giuseppe are staunch traditionalists, but they have found that the rotofermenter works really well for cap management. It’s just a tool; as John suggests it was used very differently in the Barolo Boys days, for very rapid fermentations/macerations.
