Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco 2022. You can’t go wrong with this one. Very young but approachable. Fruit forward, fresh, lingering dusty tannings that stay on the palate for quite a while. Perfectly balanced. Can age for another 15-20 years. I have four or five vintages, it’s always fun to do vertical. 92-93 points
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Posted a separate thread but will include this here.
2016 Roagna Barbaresco Faset
Ripe cherry, raspberry, lavender, a touch of camphor, and underlying tar on the nose at first. Cooling medicinal herbs and spearmint later peek through. On the first night of this being open this is primary yet suave on the palate with nice candied red fruit/lozenge showing through the leather and tar flavors, but with some astringent tannin in the back end. On the second night the nose has become pretty subdued, but the palate has become more integrated and a little more robust with more weight yet maintains its finesse and charm. This wine has dried asphalt minerality at its core, but there are now complex flavors of plum, sage, tobacco leaf, and a little exoticism from some Szechuan peppercorn spice, all sitting atop its fine gripping tannins and juicy acidity, and excellent length on the finish
If you have only one, I’d wait until after 2030 to open as this still needs time to develop.
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1979 Prunotto Barolo: Gee this was good. Immediately expressive aromatically. Briary fruits, leather, tar and tobacco. Sweet of fruit at its core. Plenty of savoury nuance. Chewy tannins and some mintiness. Fresh and vibrant with an uptick of balsamic volatility giving the finish real lift.
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I stayed in the Monchiero family rental in the middle of the Rocche di Castiglione vineyard back in 2016. Can I ask, did you buy the Monchiero wine in the USA?
Nice - my wife and I stayed there in 2016 and 2022. It’s spacious, comfortable, within walking distance of great restaurants in CF and a good central spot to explore surrounding villages.
I’m based in Australia and am good friends with the Australian importer for Monchiero, so purchased them here.
In my opinion, Monchiero continues to go from strength to strength. Stefano Monchiero is visiting Australia right now and I was at a tasting last weekend of the 2022 Barolos. Very beautiful, pure and light touch wines.
It’s easy to focus on the Rocche, but the 2022 Comune de Castiglione Falletto (sometimes 100% Pernanno cru fruit and sometimes has some Montanello cru fruit blended in) was outrageously good.
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1969 Bruno Giacosa Barbaresco: Starts off quite shy and understated. Really gets going in the decanter. Decaying rose, Indian spice, freshly tilled earth and a suggestion of something sweet and vinous. Silky and voluminous. So much presence and such gorgeous perfume. Great balance. Fine acid cut and length to burn. Wonderful for the year.
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This is really lovely, resolving nicely. Quite dark, black olives, black fruits and fine, seamless palate. In my book a good time to crack one!!
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I have a bottle of the 69 Santo Stefano. I had wondered if it is still any good.
Our standard bottling performed well above expectations. You could be in for a real treat, Ken.
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How’s the 2016 PdP drinking? I was thinking of giving one a try now that they’re 10 years old.
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Not familiar with this giacosa affiliate…was a case filler but it’s 2016 so how bad could it be.
Was fantastic! Tannins still chewy but getting there…the classic tar and roses we all seek with piedmont. Very enjoyable with some food from our favorite israeli cafe.
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Unrelated to Bruno Giacosa, but the winery is right next door to Bruno’s old winery.
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I served a bottle blindly to a group of mine back in February. My notes:
Fabulous from the outset. Elegant, light but with very concentrated flavors. With stracotto [Italian pot roast] it was fabulous. Everyone loved it. 92+.
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I thought I’d post the following here. We visited Piemonte last weekend with a group of 6 friends. Setting up appointments was a bit difficult in the weekend, but it worked out ok. Here are some quick impressions. In case anyone has questions, let me know!
- Fratelli Alessandria: lovely visit. Good wines. Had to pay a tasting fee (30e pp) that was waived when buying wine. We did not taste the Monvig, only the Gramolere from further down south.
- New vintage tasting at the local enoteca in La Morra: no specific notes. Nothing that stood out.
- Cerreto: wow, massive set-up, various groups simultaneously tasting if nice tasting rooms. Very corporate. They also own an importer and Piazza Duoma ***. 160e pp for the tasting! Wines for sale price >200e for the most part. The lady dealing with us was nice & professonal.
- Cogli l’Attimo: garage style winery (mom + daughter) close to Novello where we ended up by luck. Lunch + wines 30e pp. You sit at a table, under large trees blocking the sun. They are on the wine list in a few top Belgian restaurants. Made discover Nascetta (white indigineous grape). Only one barolo. Wines not too high in alcohol. Fun visit off the beaten track.
- Vietti: lovely tasting. Set-up in line with Fratelli Alessandria. Good wines, we did buy a few bottles. Very nice cellars.
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- 2004 Luigi Pira Barolo Vigna Rionda - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo (5/30/2026)
Cork is in immaculate condition. After two hours in the decanter this starts to open up with black cherry, smoke, tar, rose water, clove and allspice, balsamic, and some green olive. At four hours the wine has gained considerable brightness, the primary fruit has intensified, and there’s more of the leather and hay I associate with Pira. There’s a clear imprint of oak, but nonetheless the site character is on full display. Full bodied with powerful concentration, high acidity, masses of tannin. Tremendously long finish with Serralunga minerality in spades. Seriously good now but there’s a lot of gas in the tank, I wish I had more of these to follow over the years to come.
Posted from CellarTracker
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Really open and delicious after a couple hours of air, well made and delicious wine on the cheap that should live a long time.
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2023 PdB Langhe- Classically light in body with medium high acid and some drying tannins. Overall muted and strangely herbal. Very spearminty, which I’ve never noticed in this wine before. An odd showing- not terrible but also not very good. Will revisit later and report back if anything changes.
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This pulled itself together a bit in day 2 and even a bit more on day 3. I still think it tasted a little off, but nonetheless, the improvement suggests this wine would do well with a nice or a few years in the cellar.
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2012 Brovia Barolo Villero
As many others note, this wine seems more advanced than its age would suggest. It shows a bit of browning, and has quite a bit more savory and earthy tertiary aromas and flavors than fruit. Mine didn’t seem oxidized though, just a bit old, so it was plenty tasty. And, in fact, I’m a fan of old Barolo wines, so I still very much enjoyed this.
On the nose, there is leather, dried roses, licorice, red cherries, some cooling herbals like mint or rosemary. Sure does smell like aged Barolo!
True to character, the wine is quite light in the mouth, but with an assertive almost bullying acidity. The tannins are still copious, though their character isn’t aggressive, and even a bit sweet, if that makes sense. Lots of leather, florals, and earth on the palate, with a nice long finish.
A very nice, if not earth- shattering drink. Given my experience and other notes on CT, I’d recommending drinking sooner rather than later.
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