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Below is a collection of my Barolo Retrospective tastings. I will regularly update this list as more become available.
I started collecting Barolo just as the 2003 vintage was about to be released. What a time that was, just on the heels of the highly acclaimed ’01 vintage and the absolute dismal failure of ’02. At the time, my hopes for ‘03 had already been dispelled by reports of unrelenting heat resulting in overripe fruit and under-ripe tannin. The ’03 growing season literally baked the fruit throughout the days and never gave them the much-needed cooler nights to rest. The results were wines of intense concentration with high alcohol and aggressive tannin. A few critics had picked a small number of wines that they deemed very good, but nowhere near classic. The warning was: Buyer beware; it’s good, but it doesn’t taste much like Barolo... Click here to read more!
2001: Piedmont Retrospective
Barbaresco, Barolo and Castiglione Falletto
A classic vintage (part 1)
With 2010 almost at a close, I thought it would be a great time to check in on the 2000 vintage of Barolo. 2000 was a year that was highly acclaimed by critics and still to this day by many producers in Piedmont. It was a ripe vintage (much like 1990) but with many producers gearing their wines toward the modern side of the winemaking spectrum, it turned out many wines that showed beautiful young but are now coming across as disjointed. In some recent tastings, Baroli from 2000 have shown rough tannins against rich fruit, making them jammy or overly dark. However, there are still many highly enjoyable wines from this vintage and most are showing beautifully right now. The best rule of thumb is to go with the producers you know and trust... Click here to read more!
One of the most common discussions among Barolo drinkers are which vintages from the 1995 through 2001 vintage streak will rise to the top. It’s a debate that has been going on for years, and for quite some time, ’99 seemed to be a big question mark--until recently... Click here to read more!
With a cellar full of young vintages of Barolo, from the last 15 years, 1998 stands out as a vintage that is not just entering its drinking window but also doing it with style. The 1997 vintage is not really my speed as many of the wines come off to me as drinking well but uninteresting. The 2000 vintage provides me with a good amount of head scratching as I’m still trying to figure out if they are too soon or just not aging as well as I had hoped. Then there’s 1998, a hot vintage, marked by drought and a vintage that’s often overshadowed by the big vintages surrounding it and has been for many years at an odd stage that was ungiving to the taster... Click here to read more!
A while back, I polled a number of experienced Barolo collectors for their choice of the best vintage of the ‘90s. These days, we seem to have a great vintage every year, if not every other year, with ‘01, '04, and '06 being reported as great and '05 tailing close behind. Notice that I didn't really mention the highly acclaimed 2000 vintage, as I've found these wines to be far less impressive than originally expected. However, back in the nineties, Barolo only saw two good vintages between 1990 and 1995. It wasn't until 1996 when they hit their vintage streak with '96, '97, '98 and '99. These were all good-to-very good years, but there is only one vintage of the nineties that each of these experienced collectors believed to be the best vintage, and that's 1996!.. Click here to read more!
When speaking of vintage streaks in Barolo circles, most enthusiasts think of 1996 through 2001. However, what is often overlooked is a vintage that was considered excellent upon release by growers and winemakers but quickly overshadowed by the structure of 1996 and the sex appeal of 1997. That vintage is 1995... Click here to read more!
Those who know and love mature Barolo sometimes wait decades to finally open a bottle from their cellar. We patiently watch as the producers we know and single vineyard bottling we adore slowly collect dust until the day that someone gives us an excuse to pull that cork. Usually it’s a good, trusted friend or a professional critic that waxes poetic on how a vintage has started to drink well. Whatever the reason may be, what I know is this: when a vintage of Barolo reaches maturity, a small part inside of each Barolo collector blossoms with joy... Click here to read more!
There is one certainty which I came to understand very early in my wine drinking life: I love aged Nebbiolo. I could even say that I love aged wine in general, but Barolo and Barbaresco hold a very special place in my heart, a place that can’t be filled by any other substance on earth. Not everyone enjoys fine aged wine; it’s got to be in you—or maybe you’ve yet to have that one bottle that turns you into a believer. However, I’m convinced that once it happens, there is no going back... Click here to read more!
The Produttori del Barbaresco is, without a doubt, the largest producer of quality-to-price ratio wines in Piedmont. With access to nine highly esteemed vineyards and a grower’s cooperative that is focused on quality wine production, the Produttori is able to provide a portfolio of Nebbiolo-based wines that can satisfy any palate and fit into any budget. The declassified Nebbiolo ($15 - $17) is one of the best in the region for the price and the Barbaresco normale ($25 - $35) can stand tall against its higher-priced competition in most vintages. For the serious nebbiolofile, the single cru riservas ($40 - $50) are all beautifully unique examples of Barbaresco and capable of aging for decades... Click here to read more!
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