I had the '01 last night. It was the last of 3 that I scooped up on auction. The first bottle last year was fantastic, second not so much, this last one was somewhere in between. Definitely a modern style but really good with food.
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2023 Comm. G.B. Burlotto Langhe Nebbiolo: Quite pale in appearance. A gorgeous nose of rose petals, strawberry and cherry. Thereās ripeness in the mouth and silkiness of texture. It has gentle tart fruit crunch and some plum skin-like tannins on the finish. An elegant, perfumed and delicious rendition of Nebbiolo.
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2017 Massolino Langhe Nebbiolo
Super langhe Neb, dark cherry, black olive and floral that glides across the palate. Good density, but also quite fine. Now developing some complexity, and is ageing very gracefully under screwcap. Consistently a great buy.
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I popped a 2021 Vajra(Vaira) Barolo Coste di Rose. Aromatic. Roses. Red fruited. Gorgeous!
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Tried the 2013 F. Rinaldi normale last night with Flannery steak, spinach and salad. First of a case purchased on release. Given the structure and quality of the vintage, we figured it would still be very young, but wanted to get a sense of timing for the rest. Really good! Excellent balance, great clarity, still grippy tannins but with a silky mouthfeel. @Eric_Guido 's note on CT is spot on. I think this should drink really well over the next 10 years or so. A bargain for the $34 I paid.
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2015 Musso Barbaresco Pora
Red berries, floral, hints of herbs, refreshing acidity and still feels rather primary. Floral and herbal on the palate. Tannins sneaks up and build up. A very long exiting finish.
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Been tasting through some young Barolos that have come in this shipping season to see what I want to go back for more of.
I havenāt had the Piero Benevelli wines before, but after drinking the 2020 Barolo Le Coste di Monforte at Il Centro in Priocca last month I was excited to try the 2021s I ordered. When I was chatting with the the sommelier at the restaurant he said that this producer is a local favorite in Monforte. Some notes over the past week:
2021 Piero Benevelli Barolo Ravera di Monforte
Pretty and beguiling aromas of cherries, lavender florals, incense, kirsch, anise, and hit of tobacco leaf that emerges with air. The kind of intoxicating nose that makes you want to just sit back and smell over and over. This is as pleasurable on the palate as it is on the nose, with a nice purity of black cherry and plum fruits beautifully interwoven with roasted herbs and tar. This is silky and charming, yet has a sense of restrained power behind it. Classic and full of nuance.
2021 Piero Benevelli Barolo Le Coste di Monforte
While the Ravera di Monforte was refined and elegant, the Le Coste di Monforte was more brooding and powerful in character. Thereās a generosity of sweet black cherry and blackberry aromas, petrichor, camphor, and tar on the nose. Mouth-coating with silky and slightly astringent tannic structure, this has a burst of energy on the attack that opens up to full-bodied flavors of tar, tobacco, and roasted herbs over a deep stony mineral core. Not much fruit on the palate initially, perhaps some plum notes as this opens in the glass. The alcohol sticks out a little at first but is less noticeable over time.
I saved some of the Le Coste di Monforte for tonight, and still have the Mosconi to try.
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You donāt see Musso often, but I have still fond memories of a visit in 2017 - we didnāt know about barolo back then, and booked an appointment when already in the region. Lovely visit with the son, who must be in his thirties now. Still have some 2014 Pora laying in the cellar, that has never disappointed.
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I was in Piemonte for a couple of days around the same period but had to prioritize visiting Barolo, would have loved to meet them. They deserve to be seen more often, even their entry level LN can be surprisingly good.
Hope to read your notes when you open a 2014 
I had access to their 2015 and 2016s (bought a case of the latter as itās my sons birth year) at very reasonable prices from a German retailer.
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Cascina Penna-Currado Nebbiolo dāAlba āSan Sebastianoā 2023: 11/22/25
Ever since the Bricco Lago Langhe Nebbiolos started appearing in shops around me Iāve been very curious as to how these wines would present. What happens when you take a masterful winemaker like Luca Currado-Vietti and give him an entirely different set of vineyards to work with after decades of running Vietti?
Hereās what I saw:
Initial: Tannic, and very reticent, more so than any other 2023 Langhe wine Iāve had thus far. It feels like it needs to be shaken awake! Dark ruby color.
10 mins: A taste of orange rind and white pepper, and a hint of rhubarb and pomegranate on the nose.
20 mins: Now weāre getting somewhere, the nose is like walking by a field of strawberries, and slowly you get the idea of cloves. Ah! Hibiscus and grapefruit on the palate. This is getting interesting, and although itās still very tannic, it otherwise seems very reasonably balanced for being so young.
1 hr: Now there is this interesting prune-caramel sweetness under the fruit, and itās entirely different from the pruniness that comes from oxidation or over-extraction. It is simply the sweetness.
2 hrs: Okay, weāve been playing scrabble for awhile now and my wife is starting to kick my butt, so I may as well come back to the wine for a minute: wow! Completely different. Much juicier, beautifully ripe cranberry. Itās fleshy and fine, now less tannic, with plenty of that clove spice from before.
3 hrs: More herbal, a distinct aroma of flat-leaf parsley?! Never had that before. Salty.
24 hrs: a hint of prune but still very fresh. Grew in the glass yet again. Now Iām convinced, itās repeated the trick 24 hours after being opened. Very good.
Draw your own conclusions, I think this stands as quite a good bottle of wine. The difficulty is the pricing differential. I was able to purchase a bottle in Italy for 45 euro, and as a US citizen was able to discount the 22% of VAT, leaving me with a roughly $40.41 USD bottle of wine. This is easily worth that, and clearly will age well and gain in complexity. But on the other hand, I was able to find an additional bottle here in the US, which cost a whopping $60 USD. That is much more difficult to argue for on a singular basis. There are plenty of other wines that are more expensive that donāt beat this, but there are also plenty of other wines far less expensive that are every bit as good or better. I guess the question really becomes, āDo you want to try it yourself?ā
If it is a consolation, Luca and Elena Penna-Currado clearly have mastered their trade, and this is a great bottle of wine that has a long way to go until it tells its whole story.
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Great people making great wine. What more can one want? 
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Thank you for this note, Iāve seen this wine popping up all over and Iāve been curious about whether or not itās worth the squeeze. Sounds like itās worth trying, though at $60 I could have a Barolo normale from a number of producers.
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Indeed!
As a side note, I forgot to mention in the post that the San Sebastiano is a superior selection from the same Bricco Lago vineyard that the Cascina Penna-Currado āBricco Lagoā Langhe Nebbiolo comes from. San Sebastiano is apparently the better section of vineyard with vines about 10-20 years older, for a maximum age of 60 years, and altered to meet whatever requirements are necessary to meet the Nebbiolo dāAlba designation vs Langhe Nebbiolo.
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Absolutely! To be honest it took having the Nebbiolo dāAlba bottling to show up for me to finally bite. I really was having a hard time accepting $45 USD for the Langhe Nebbiolo I had seen for a while.
I completely agree though, and from a personal standpoint there are many other wines I would most likely buy before I kept spending $60 on this over and over. It is good though, and I have no regrets on taking the opportunity to try it.
Probably the best bottle comparison is Vietti Castiglione, which typically runs $62-$75 in my market. Next to new vintages of that, I would honestly take the Penna-Currado every time, it is very good.
But next to Cavallotto LN, Vajra Albe, a handful of Barbarescos, and some other Barolo?? Not so sureā¦
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Cavallotto LN absolutely, such a killer wine for an entry-level offering. I hesitate to even label it as entry-level, except for the fact that itās technically their most affordable Nebbiolo-based wine.
Langhe Nebbiolo and Nebbiolo dāAlba prices seem to keep creeping up every year, and now many unclassified Nebbiolo bottlings are sitting at old Barbaresco and even Barolo price points. Then youāve got some producers like Fratelli Alessandria, Oddero, Ferdinando Principiano, and more who are selling their Barolo normale for around $60 still. It feels a bit like Burgundy sometimes.
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The 2018 Cantine del Castello di Conti Boca Il Rossso delle Donne, not 100% Nebbiolo, obviously, as it is Boca, was really excellent last night. Bright and fresh with some spice and plenty of fruit, a bit of prickle from the Vespolina. So good.
Not at all Nebbiolo, but regionally adjacent, Sottimano Mate Brachetto was a huge hit with Thanksgiving dinner. Loads of fresh strawberry on the nose and palate, not complex and not trying to be, this complemented everything and is oh so easy to drink.
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Iāve noticed this for a long time, and I suspect this is mostly retailers adding a huge markup. For a couple of vintages Iād see Burlottoās Nebbiolo Langhe, for instance, offered at the āoldā price of around $30 or even a bit less, while other sources would have it for $45 or even more. I think there is a lot of demand for these wines from the top producers and people will pay more. Iāve long been a fan of these entry level bottles from good producers, though I know some here disagree. Even so, itās a bit silly when they cost 3/4 as much as the Barolo or Barbaresco from the same producer and Iām definitely not a fan at that point.
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Iād say itās more of a combination of importer and distributor markup in different states, plus retailer markup in some cases. Prices from importers have gone up as well.
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Thatās fair, as often the higher priced offerings were on pre-arrival six packs, suggesting importer markup. Also makes me wonder how many are biting on six packs on prearrival at those higher prices.
Thereās things called tariffs that are affecting pricing, coupled with higher shipping costs and a weakened dollar. At least for the US market of course. In this difficult business environment I find it hard to believe that retailers are taking higher margins on almost anything. Same for Importers/Wholesalers. Something like a Burlotto LN would be an exception, but those are few and far between.
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