2010 Cavallotto Barolo Bricco Boschis. This feels very young but after about 90 minutes in the decanter it opens up to intoxicating rose and red fruit with emerging leather, hardy herbs, cinnamon and allspice. Powerful acidity and enveloping fine tannins. Probably 10-15 years away from any kind of peak but certainly no crime to open now.
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Sounds delightful!
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2016 Aurelio Settimo Rocche dellâAnnunziata
A petulant adolescent.
Three hours in the decanter did very little for this - nice nose but super acidic and tannic - so it went into the fridge overnight and came back out to warm up a little.
Funny how I opened a bottle of this c. 2021 and it was young and raw but great and I thought five years. Not enough.
Day 2: Really lovely. Still youthful but classic. Roses and tar, elegant, bright acidity and some tannic bite. Great length and complexity in the aromatics and finish.
More patience required âŚ
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The string of Cavalotto posts mean I have to come back out from hidingđ¤Ł
The 08 was showing a touch of balsamico that had me worried about potential heat damage. With air, I was thankfully wrong as it was nuanced and cool with more violets, savory spices and hers, dark red cherries, and raspberries. The acidity is well integrated and refreshing while the tannins have pulled back to where this is clearly in a good zone.
The 2013 was just bangin! Decanted early on and drunk 4 hours later, it shows off the solar qualities of the vintage with the fruits showing more reds than dark red and black. Red cherries, freshly picked red berries, and some cranberries blend beautifully together along with rose petals, leather notes, a touch of tar, and savory herbs. The Full bodied feel is deft and vibrant with the tart, high acidity having a vertical presence while the high tannins have pulled back slightly but still let you know they have staying power.
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2020 Giacomo Conterno Nebbiolo dâAlba Vigna Arione: A gorgeous nose of cherry, raspberry, pomegranate and rose petals. The palate has flesh and red fruits. Thereâs real punch and lift and some hazelnut nuttiness. It has mint and menthol and meat too. Complex, stony, built and brilliant. Such balance and expansion.
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And?
I liked the 2015 Ravera di Monforte from Principiano and was thinking Iâd get some 2021s. Impressive how much flavor they can get from relatively lower ABV.
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huge rose petal aromatics, dense core of sweet fruit and sneaky fine grained tannins that emerge with air. have some left over to check in on later. very impressive wine!
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A favorite Barolo/Langhe producer which I regrettably have proportionately little wines from.
I am not clear on how intensity of flavor is related to level of alcohol (especially since you are a fan of low ABV Goodfellow wines).
High(er) abv flattens acidity, diminishes nuance, and creates heat. I like acidity and nuance in my Nebbiolo. Heat, not so much.
I think we are in agreement here. Unless you equate heat with flavor, higher ABV is a negative. We are not talking hot sauce here.
I guess he is talking about ripeness of the grapes.
For a wine to be balanced with higher ABV everything else has to be up a notch. Generally you do see more flavor intensity in a higher ABV wine (or spirit). For example Amarone, or even more extreme is port. Port is extremely high acid, which is necessary for balance. If it wasnât, it would be cloying, and if the flavor intensity wasnât off the charts, it would taste hot.
idk that I would say higher abv is a good or a bad thing, but important factor in balance. I think most of us (Enthusiasts) today, have shifted to lower abv wines these days, and very, very few people would say that they prefer higher abv nebbiolo.
But then again, there is Sforzato which has more flavor intensity than Valtellina Superiore, and I am also not sure I know anyone who would complain about a Sforzato being at 15%
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Lineup from a class on Lombardy that I did on Friday. Wish I could have had a few other things in there, but the Valtellina Chiavennasca (nebbiolo) seemed priority, and a couple of other things are so hard to source.
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Cool answer. To be fair, we are talking âregularâ Nebbiolo here. Amarone and Port really are different beasts that forced or manipulated into higher concentration/AVB. Likewise, Barolo Chinato. Your post got me thinking that I have consumed 1000-2000 (+?) bottles of Nebbiolo and perhaps 100+ of Amarone/Ripasso (a preference I lost many years ago), but not a single bottle of Sforzato.
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Not uncommon to hear that. Sforzato is pretty rare here in the US. You should definitely seek some out though. I would skip Nino Negri, even though itâs the most famous. The wines arenât terrible, but a bit overdone if you ask me. Sandro Fay is available and excellent.
How much have you had from the Valtellina in general?
PS Amarone is being forgotten about and people are getting sick of the overdone iterations that consume much of the market, but a good Amarone is a remarkable thing after 20-30 years though.
I remember a critic but I canât recall their name - they used to promote that wines of higher extraction and ABV also provided more âflavorâ.
Roberto Rogness once sent some Nino Negri and other Sforzato to Parker, who, from memory, panned them as smelling and tasting like bat shit (in fairness, I recall that he used the term guano rather than shit).
