I’ve got my short ribs simmering in some chianti on an overcast day here in Philly suburbia, so I thought I would check out a recent purchase from a Cinderella Wine sale. First up, the
2005 Guido Porro Barolo Vigna Santa Caterina.
Darker translucent ruby in the glass, with a primary nose that speaks of menthol and black cherry fruit.
Red fruits on the palate, with prominent acidity framing the fruit, and a dollop of drying tannin on the finish. Really showing young right now, and I think that the fat from the short ribs will work nicely to tame some of this acidity.
Back in a minute or two after I pull the cork on bottle #2.
Next up, the 2005 Guido Porro Barolo Lazzairasco.
Similar in color to the first wine; the nose has a mustiness to it, but that was more pronounced on opening and it is starting to dissipate, so we’ll see if that was just a bit of bottle stink or something more deeply flawed. Now appearing to be sound, more red-fruited on the nose than the first wine, but still quite primary.
Wow, much sweeter on the palate than the first wine - I’d hesitate to call any '05 Barolo truly acccessible, and this one may still shut down at some point, but certainly more open and giving than the first wine, and without that drying tannin on the finish. Very Burgundian right now - I don’t know anything about this winemaker, but both of these wines strike me as being on the more modernist side of the winemaking equation in Piemonte. I clearly prefer this wine on opening, but I’ll return with some additional thoughts after I’ve tried them with the short ribs.
Modernist?? Most definately not! Far from it, he is a pretty traditional producer. These are not heavyweight extracted nebbiolo’s at all. They are lightness personified, and the 2005’s are drinking well now. I wouldn’t want to age them long (say more than 10 years or so further) because they really don’t have the stuffing to do so (vintage has something to do with this too, as 2005 made a less extracted wine most places). Sounds like you like them though. I enjoyed them both as well.
Yeah,I agree with Markus…nothing modern about Porro’s wines,but Burgundian,sure.
I really appreciate the Lazzairasco,especially from 04,05.Rivals the Produttori in QPR at $29…oh and Bob,we be grillin’ here too. ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers")
Like I said initially, don’t know anything about the producer, but I normally associate darker-colored wines that feature early accessibility with the modernist school in Piemonte. If he’s a traditionalist, then I assume 2005 is an atypical vintage (much like Mauro Marscarello’s '98 Monprivato, in terms of it’s early accessibility).
BTW, with food I really enjoyed the way the Santa Caterina unfolded. It has a touch of austerity, but I liked that, and all in, I think I preferred it to the Lazzairasco on this first exposure. That said, as Bill pointed out, hard to complain about either bottle given the tariff.
Had a couple “day 2” glasses today (basically 48 hours after opening), and I was really impressed with how much tighter and more focused the Lazzairasco had become. While I liked the Santa Caterina better on day 1, today the Lazzairasco delivers the goods, which speaks well (at least IMO) for potential favorable development in bottle.
Reading between the lines, it looks like Wine Library will be offering the 2004 Lazzairasco for $26.98 on Thursday May 10th.
https://winelibrary.com/takeover
FWIW.
M @ r k