What's the scoop on 08 and 09 in the Langhe?

I was in Alba for a couple of days in June and tasted some terrific 09 barberas and dolcettos and a couple of good nebbiolos. A couple of winemakers mumbled about 08 being difficult, but I gather there is some enthusiasm for 08. I wasn’t shown many 08s, so I didn’t come away with a sense of the vintage myself.

I’d be curious to hear other people’s take on both 08 and 09, as well as 2010.

Bump. John, no first hand experiences to offer unfortunately. My understanding is that 08 turned out better than expected with Barolo/Barbarescos showing balanced ripe fruit and decent terroir expression. An AFWE leaning vintage, but not austere.

RT

I posted my thoughts on 08 re: barolo on this thread: https://wineimport.discoursehosting.net/t/giacosa-2007-vs-2008-thoughts/55242/1

suffice to say, i’m excited…

Overall, 2009 seems to offer more fruit that '08, but don’t know if I’d go far as to say it’s another '07, but I’m pretty certain 07 and 09 will be drinking long before 08. on the other hand, some folks I tasted with disagreed and thought it might offer the best of both worlds - the fruit of '07 and the elegance/structure of 08. I think that will be some really fine wines from Barbaresco in '09, but my tasting of that vintage is limited to about 5 producers.

2010 Barolo - sweet round tannins, most wines were a bit reductive on the nose, so of course they were muted. Again, most folks I spoke with were happy with where these wines were headed and will be more 06/08 than 07/09… funny how this even/odd thing is working out the last few vintages…

hope that helps

g.

I’ve never known the nebbiolo-heads to be so lacking in opinions.

I.e., bump.

Second thread on this topic that hasn’t seen much action. I’m also surprised.

I haven’t tasted any '08s. I have only recently had a couple of '09 Langhe Nebbiolos and they were both quite good. I had the Vajra and the Sottimano. I also bought some of the Giuseppe Cortese, Mirafiore, Marengo, and Cavallotto. I think 2009 looks to be quite good if the Barolos and Barbarescos can take it to a higher level. I think these '09 Langhe Nebbiolos will age for quite awhile. A great choice to drink some very good nebbiolos while your Barolos and Barbarescos age.
Byron

And now, to contradict myself re 2009, I’m drinking my second bottle of 09 Cavallotto Vigna Scot Dolcetto and finding it unpleasantly tannic. I’ve been drinking this as a standby wine for years, and this is offering very little pleasure, even with food and air.

I haven’t tasted any '08s or '09s … except Moscato d’Asti.

john,
just curious as to your drinking window for most Dolcetto (dolcetti?? neener )… I’ve always cringed at drinking anything more than 2 vintages back until my Moscato producer (Pierluigi Bera) had me try his wines - I’m missing the dates in my notes, but I think it was the 08 that he thought was too young and needed another 2 yrs. He does a month or two in stainless and then 8 months in 6-7 yr old barriques. I presume that the Cavallotto is 100% stainless?

thanks,

g.

I’m not sure, but I assume stainless. This is the current release and I’ve drunk many, many vintages of this with pleasure, but this one is hard work. It seems to have rather hard tannins, which is weird for dolcetto.

Of course I’ve only tasted these wines out of barrel and both vintages seem to have something going for them. Last spring the 08s were rather closed, clenched, but balanced wines, perhaps a touch small scaled at the time, they did have a coolness and freshness about them that was appealing but after sitting in barrel for so long many were at a bit of a challenging stage to taste.

The 2009s were decidedly more expressive, quite open and fruit driven, but still retaining real tension. Lovely fruit but remaining nicely transparent.

I think both vintages are going to be very good, though only time will tell. Georges hot/cool odd/even generalizations hold pretty true here, though 2009 is not a particularly extreme feeling hot vintage at this point.

08s might turn out a bit like 96 lite, while the 09s seem on track to be a better 2000.

The 2009s dolcettos were fabulous, perhaps you’ve got some cork taint on the Cavallotto?

Thanks, Greg, for chiming in… Interestingly enough, the only negative note I wrote on some of the 08s was that “while the finish was long, it appears to be a bit narrow”. Is that consistent with “perhaps a touch small scaled”? Any dates on Nebbiolo Prima yet? Hope to see you there.

g.

Nebbiolo Prima 13-18 May, a little later this year…

Thanks Tim! Hope all is well and look forward to seeing you again soon.

g.

No signs of TCA, and both bottles had the same, very marked tannins.

Like you, I was thrilled by the other 09s non-nebbiolos I tried.

Just received an offer on 2008 Vietti and Voerzio - will no doubt go for my usual tranche of Vietti, with Voerzio still outside my comfort zone price wise.
Reading tanzers notes I get the feeling that the 2008 Viettis and quite stern.

Serious dolcetto from the more ‘masculine’ villages is often pretty tannic.

Everything seems pretty good. 08 more structured but I am finding 08 Barbaresco difficult. Will know more when I visit in May!! I was on 06/07/08 and 09/10 for lesser DOC when there last. 09 is a much richer vintage it seems but without the sweetness of perhaps 07.

Some recent notes. Btw not an Italian expert.

Nice overall wine and great food pairing.

Posted from CellarTracker

The Vigna Scot is from Castiglione and usually has a structure like a nice Chianti Classico, with a medium color and decent but not terribly masculine structure. I’ve drunk this wine in most vintages over the past decade and the 09 just seems out of character.