May 2009
Well the 2005 Barolos are tasted, and I can’t help but think back to what I ... red fruit finale, 84-85
Elio Grasso Gavarini Chiniera (Monforte) - smells like a cigar butt in apricot jam, smoky, tarry jammy, languid, nice acids, kind of soft and dilute, easy across the tongue... Read moreWell the 2005 Barolos are tasted, and I can’t help but think back to what I ... red fruit finale, 84-85
Elio Grasso Gavarini Chiniera (Monforte) - smells like a cigar butt in apricot jam, smoky, tarry jammy, languid, nice acids, kind of soft and dilute, easy across the tongue with small austere tannins, finishes chalky with a touch of a tobacco tone, 84-85
Rivetto Giulin (Serralunga) -gamy, leathery, candied herbs, loose, not much here to work with, light, elegant perhaps, simple 84-85
Gigi Rosso Arione (Serralunga) -lots of apricot, smells like cedar and redwood, lightly jammy raspberry, quite floral but the pencil wood is noticeable, lacks tension in the mouth, a bit fluid, a bit boring, nice fruity notes accented with vanilla sugar tones, 84-85
83-84
Michele Chiarlo Cerequio (La Morra)- well integrated spicy wood tones, light cherry and rose, a bit of clay, soft and simple, nice, simple, easy, some fruit, some spice, neither good nor bad 83-84
Eugenio Bocchino Lu (La Morra)- nice refreshing balsamic scents, intense pine needle, ripe fruit, fur, amazing Christmas tree tone, much less interesting in the mouth, loose, without focus, some nice fruit and a touch of the balsamic character found on the nose but mostly a stripped flaccid wine, nice fruit re emerges on the finish, so maybe it will fill in, 87-88 for the nose, 83-84 total
Luciano Sandrone Cannubi Boshcis (Barolo)-fine oak notes, candied, candied raspberry leathery, nice fruit is a little simple, a bit flaccid up front, lacks some vibrancy, nice deep fruit on the mp is monolithic and feels a bit extracted, heavy on the backend, no detail, extracted feel on the finish with a touch of nice earth adding a bit of complexity 83-84
Armando Piazzo (Barolo)- charcuterie and pork aspic, it really smells like working with pork products, light, fresh, easy, simple, not interesting but far from offensive, 83-84
Giacomo Grimaldi le Coste (Barolo)- a bit of bubblegum on the nose, face powder, white pepper, white cherry in alcohol, easy style, a bit simple, not much detail, perhaps closed, nice feel, very finely polished tannins, a bit of mint and camphor on the finish, 83-84
Elvio Cogno Ravera (Barolo)- kind of sweet notes on the nose, some peach skin, minty fresh, earth and clay, a bit dilute, matte, anonymous, nice feel with a touch of chewy extraction, minty some nice cherry pit on the moderately long finish, 83-84
Damilano Liste (Barolo)- beef extract, deep fruit, something weird though, a bit of brett, leathery, with some poop, nice balance, nice tannins, crisp yet fine grained, dilute, not much heart here, nice but really very little intensity, 83-84
Bergadano Cav. Enrico Sarmassa (Barolo)- heavy aromatics are sweet and fruity, fleshy clean and precise, with macerated cherry and flowers, a little caramel sweetness creeps in, dilute, nothing special, decent fruit, simple, not too bad 83-84
Luciano Sandrone Le Vigne (Barolo)- sweet oaked nose, coffee candy and smoke, some ham, lingonberry and mint, sweet oakiness right up front yields to a dilute mid-palate with nice flavors but really low key, but why? 83-84
Ettore Germano Cerretta (Serralunga) -diesel, kind of nasty to smell, chemical, clay, big and rich, but hollow, nice tannins, a bit chewy, uninteresting but with building fruit, extracted feeling extracted tannins, 83-84
Terre da Vino Essenze (Multi commune) - clean, fresh, candied and slightly uninteresting, slight herbal root character, nice herbal character in the mouth but lacks some backing fruit, easy to drink and refreshing, simple but the one flavor is enjoyable, very short 83-84
Palladino Parafada (Serralunga) -candied root beer, candied herbs, sour meats, raw wood, gingerbread cheesecake, very fluid in the mouth, flat, very little follow through, some bitter cherry, small scaled, a bit too much tannin for the spicy spice cake fruit 83-84
Francesco Sobrero Ciabot Tanasio (Castiglione Falletto)- jammy, over-ripe, white pepper, round, flaccid, nice wiry fruit of low intensity, indistinct, fresh feeling at least, 83-84
82-83
Gianni Gagliardo Serre (La Morra)- sweet herbal root beer tones, sandy soil, fur, blond tobacco, chalk, lean nose, a bit dead in the mouth, kind of dull dark wild cherry fruit, no detail, no depth, a blanket on the tongue, more nice dark cherry fruit on the finish but flat and dull, 82-83
Aurelio Settimo Rocche (La Morra)- stink on the nose, matchstick, cedar, lean, crisp mouthfeel, no real flavor interest, not much here, a hint of sour cherry, drying, simple and inoffensive, 82-83
Rocche Costamagna Rocche dell’Annunziata (La Morra)- weird chalk and chicken/fowl nose, sweet smelling, candied nose, with a touch of coffee, thin, poorly knit, shrill, nice finish with some raspberry fruit and with reasonable balance, 82-83
Vietti Brunate (La Morra) - a bit heavy and dull, sweet with integrated wood and some nice spicy herbal tones, a bit smoky wood, a bit loose, lacks some focus, a bit dried out but with some nice pie filling fruit, seems to be a bit too tannic across the mp, spicy eucalyptus/vegetal tones but not refreshing, a bit heavy and dull 82-83
Bartolo Mascarello (Barolo)- campfire, then sweet herbs, a touch of bacon, some cola, weeds, very fluid in the mouth, softish tannins, some sweetness but not much else, not cloying but very little flavor at this stage. 82-83
Ruggeri Corsini Corsini (Monforte) - gamy, sweet wood, heavy, cloying, monolithic, big in the mouth, good freshness but the fruit is chewy, and feels saturated and not in a particularly good way, thoroughly ordinary and almost cloying on the finish, 82-83
Rocche de Manzoni Santo Stefano di Perno (Monforte) - sweet wood, cigar box, oaky, some herbal character, sweet, lots of wood tannin on the mp, powerful with some liquory almost medicinal fruit on the mid-palate which shows nice promise on the finish before the wood tannins clamp down, 82-83
Parusso Mariondino Bussia le Costa Mosconi (Monforte/Castiglione) - passionfruit, particular French oak, vanilla, smoke, vanilla pipe tobacco, artificial fruit aromas, slightly chewy, innocuous, anonymous, 82-83
Cascina Cucco Cerrati Vigna Cucco (Serralunga) -a bit jammy, a bit woody, nice cherry fruit, roses, smoky, baking spice, a bit soft though the acid peeks out, not much on the palate, lean and dried out, though it is soft, with decent woody length, 82-83
Terre del Barolo (Multi commune) - cola, cali pinot, cool in the mouth, light and easy, 82-83
Boroli Villero (Castiglione Falletto)- jammy, hot, menthol, jammy, hot, feels stripped, liquory raspberry, sandalwood, rosehips, hot a little spicy 82-83
Terre da Vino Paesi Tuoi (Castiglione Falletto)- jammy, spicy, liquory frutti del bosco, toast, caramel wood, marshmallow, weird candied jammy fruits, cola, a bit dirty, a bit low key, not much to like fresh, lean, soft tannins, 82-83
Mauro Molino Gallinotto (La Morra)- diesel, real reduced veal stock where it gets kind of sickeningly intense, really sweet wood, some nice cherry fruit but really kind of simple and blah, no detail, no lift, no finish, 80-82
Virna Borgogno Preda Sarmassa (Barolo) - quinine, horseradish, mint, dry compost heap, tomato paste, very lean, nicely spiced, not any fruit, tannic, dry, some cola, , menthol and tannins on the finish 80-82
Rocche dei Manzoni Big’d Big (Monforte) - candied, some dried lime zest perhaps lurking, has potential but not showing much today, big, low tannin, soft, broad but shallow, then a bit drying on the finish, I don’t know what to make of this, 80-82
Gianfranco Alessandria (Monforte)- coffee candy, wood, cigar box, spicy cinnamon, tobacco candy, flat, flabby, hollow, totally uninteresting save a nice floral note on the finish 80-82
Cascina Cucco Cerrati (Serralunga) -very sweet aromatic wood nose, flat in the mouth, neutral in the mouth, nice structure not much flavor 80-82
Fontanafredda la Rosa (Serralunga) -sweet candied root beer, cloying nose, rather light on the palate though, much better than one would expect from the nose, but there’s not much flavor interest here and a rather watery finish, extracted tea quality, 80-82
Livia Fontana Villero (Castiglione Falletto)- funky, very herbal and soil driven, eggshells, a bit of matchstick, lean, ungenerous, uninteresting, fresh finish, 80-82
Costa di Bussia Campo de Buoi (Monforte)- bretty, like big time, cool, crisp and fresh with front loaded sweet fruit then bretty mp, burnished drying, 78-80
Eredi Lodali Lorens (Roddi)- sweet wood notes, lots of coffee, heavy, candied sweet and dull on the nose, dead in the mouth, fluid, without flavor or character, woody. 78-80
Renato Ratti Rocche (La Morra)- passionfruit, lemon, wood, lemon pledge, stewy, cedar, a touch of mothball, nothing going on in the mouth, loose, some dark berry fruit, heavy tannins, kind of extracted, really tannic finish, not enough flesh, 78-80
Gianni Voerzio La Serra (La Morra)- oaky and black raspberry preserves a little lactic, dried pear fruit, thick up front then oaky and stripped, heavy but not sweet, dead in the mouth, bitter wood and cigar butt notes, a bit of whiskey on the finish, drying detailess 78-80
Fratelli Giacosa Vigna Mandorlo (Castiglione Falletto)- medicinal, herbal, a touch of match stick, sour cherry, sour berry, a flat boring wine in the mouth 78-80
Aurelio Settimo (La Morra)- hot, over-ripe jammy, indistinct, very menthol, fluid, shallow, over-ripe, nasty 70-72
Eredi Virginia Ferrero San Rocco (Serralunga) -stinky, cidery, smells like ass, lots of dried pork character, off and just plain weird, flat and bad, 7 (hide)
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