March
2, 2006
Revisiting
Piemonte's Best Vintage of the 90s
In This Issue
A Note from Sergio
In the past few years, the wine industry has begun to realize-slowly,
finally-that it as a whole has contributed to the demise of
artisanal wine over the past 30 years. What was once a tiny,
specialized business has become a global market-and that market
demands wines that are ready to drink immediately upon their
release.
The wine trade is obviously an inventory-based business.
As such, it must rotate inventory in order to maximize profits.
Vintners, importers, retailers, and restaurateurs alike
therefore try to sell their newest inventory as quickly
as possible. Most sellers, then, need an easy way to make
a pitch-and what better way to convince a potential buyer
than showing him written proof that the product he's buying
is good? This mentality has, in essence, multiplied the
power of the media and has allowed it to become the driving
force behind how wine is made, marketed, and consumed worldwide.
Initially, wine journals and magazines began to rate wines
in order to simplify a seemingly complex, inaccessible subject.
Readers reacted enthusiastically and it soon became clear
that they were more likely to purchase a publication if
it rated new vintages well-these novel vintages were exciting,
and high numbers were flashy. As well, most people new to
drinking wine were prone to prefer big wines, which are
easier to comprehend and enjoy than their more subtle counterparts.
So writers desperate to simultaneously create a favorable
reputation for themselves and sell their journals took to
tasting a wine immediately after it had been bottled or
the ridiculous practice of rating them while still in barrel
and-if it was ready to drink, full of fruit, undemanding-slapping
98 points on it. Using this method, a writer could convince
his readers of his genius: he says it's good, people buy
it, drink it, and indeed, like it!
Retailers looking for an uncomplicated tool to pitch wine
to their customers bought those 98 point wines and touted
them as high scorers. Winemakers, who needed to increase
their cash flow or risk getting left behind, decided that
they had best start producing moneymaking wines that could
be contenders for an A+ grade. This meant that they needed
to create drinks that were ready to be drunk as soon as
they were bottled. They mixed together their easy, bold
wines; the journalists approved; readers bought magazines;
the stores and importers advertised the highly-rated wine;
and the cycle continued-and continues.
The problem is that as the authenticity of winemaking is
replaced with purely commerce-driven production, everyone
gets cheated out of rewarding experiences. While a fruity
young wine may give its drinker instant gratification, an
elegant old wine will provide far more. The ability to age
well, as I have said many times before, is the greatest
indicator of quality. Most often, the truly remarkable wines
are those that have proven themselves by holding up-and
getting better-over time. Some of you may even remember
when the fun of collecting came from contributing to the
care of a wine until it reached its peak age and performance.
Today, I am making an offer to my clients, who appreciate
the gifts that come with patience. The 1996 vintage in Piemonte
was without a doubt— regardless of what scores more
"ready" vintages earned—the greatest of
its decade. The wines I've chosen today are well-kept bottles
of some of these gloriously-structured wines--among them
the Giacosa Asili riserva, a wine that I consider to be
simply as good as it gets.
My best,
Sergio Esposito
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Three Important Wines from Bruno Giacosa
Bruno
Giacosa 1996 Barolo Falletto Ris - Red Label $299.00*
Bruno Giacosa 1996 Barolo Falletto Ris - Red Label $625.00
(1.5L)*
For more than sixty years, Bruno Giacosa, the Langhe’s
most consistent producer, has made some of Italy’s greatest
Barolos and Barbarescos in the traditional Piemontese style.
His success is based on his painstaking selection of grapes;
in poor vintages, Giacosa sells his fruit in bulk; in exceptional
vintages, he honors the wine with the coveted red label riserva
as he has done here. The Falletto Riserva includes grapes
from the famed Rocche del Falletto plot (a small area of old
vines on top of the Falletto slope), making it particularly
attractive to collectors. The 1997 vintage marked the debut
of the well-known Rocche del Falletto label that comes exclusively
from this four block plot.
Bruno
Giacosa 1996 Barbaresco Asili Riserva - Red Label $299.00*
Bruno Giacosa 1996 Barbaresco Asili Riserva - Red Label
$640.00 (1.5L)*
While Giacosa’s much-lauded Santo Stefano is his signature
Barbaresco (and often the region's most heralded wine),
his Asili is the only red-label riserva Barbaresco made
from the historic 1996 vintage—a bottling that may
in fact be able to match the longevity of his legendary
1971 Santo Stefano. The wine—the first vintage of
which was the 1995—is made of grapes picked from the
first vines he purchased. The grape selection in the Asili
vineyard (made famous by Ceretto and Produttori del Barbaresco)
is so strict that his entire 10 hectares yields just 250
cases. Giacosa macerates the Asili for more than three weeks,
as he does with the Santo Stefano. He then ages the wine
both in the barrel and the bottle for slightly less time
than he does the Santo Stefano in order to expose more fruit.
While it may be tempting to uncork this Asili now, patience
will reward.
Bruno
Giacosa 1996 Barbaresco Rabaja $189.00 (limited availability)
This historical bottling marks Giacosa’s debut from
the Rabaja site, one of the most celebrated plots in Barbaresco.
Giacosa’s knowledge of the terrain enabled him to
select prime parcels from the large vineyard (several estates
produce wine from its fruit), resulting in a masterful Nebbiolo
that delivers both elegance and finesse. This Barbaresco
undergoes an extended maceration period but is generally
more approachable than the Asili and the Santo Stefano.
*These wines are sold as future arrivals.
Click
for more on Barolo & Barbaresco.
More Cellar Staples from 1996
Bartolo
Mascarello 1996 Barolo $96.90
This cuvee, the Mascarello estate’s single bottling,
is perhaps the world’s finest Barolo. The winery’s
approach to production is simple: pick ripe fruit from Barolo’s
best, low-yield vines and blend. The result is a line of consistent,
gorgeous, harmonious wines that can stand the test of time—the
acidity and tannins of this ten-year-old Mascarello Barolo
are firmly braced by noble structure and exquisite balance.
Aldo
Conterno 1996 Barolo ‘Bussia Soprana’ $67.50*
In the early 1960s, Aldo Conterno and his late brother Giovanni
worked with their father at the Giacomo Conterno estate,
where they created some of the world’s most long-lived
and highly regarded Barolo. But while Giovanni was an unwavering
traditionalist, Aldo was interested in experimentation.
So in 1969, Aldo split off from his father’s estate
and founded the Favot cellar. From the Bussia Soprana vineyard
site in Monforte d'Alba, this is the most classic of Aldo’s
cru normale Barolos. While more approachable than Conterno’s
Granbussia, it takes on the power, structure, and concentration
that are characteristic of Monforte. Young tannins are balanced
by keen acidity.
Aldo
Conterno 1996 Barolo Granbussia Riserva $187.50
Giacomo Conterno’s 'Monfortino' Riserva and Aldo Conterno’s
Granbussia Riserva are among the two greatest Barolos produced
today. This wine—Il Favot’s special reserve
bottling produced only in such great vintages as the structured
1996—is the quintessential cellar trophy. The grapes
are selected from the prime Bussia plots of Cicala (15%),
Colonnello (15%), and Romirasco (70%), which impart the
classic Monforte profile of depth, structure, power, and
concentration. This IWM favorite is a wine of patience that
will continue to improve with proper cellaring.
Clerico
1996 Barolo Percristina $179.98* (limited availability)
Domenico Clerico, a leader in the Langhe’s modernist
movement, demonstrates his belief in the integrity of the
grape and the terroir through his concentration on single-vineyard
wines. This riserva, named for Clerico’s daughter
who died at age seven, is the rarest and most powerful of
his Barolos—an explosive, modern drink with generously
extracted fruit and a long finish. The wine is produced
from selected grapes grown in the Mosconi vineyard in Monforte
d’Alba, which gives it unusual structure and tannin.
Gaja
1996 Langhe Sperss $395.00 (1.5L)
Angelo Gaja’s inventive vineyard and cellar practices
consistently break new ground, often stirring controversy
among the local cognoscenti. For example, he recently dropped
the appellation name of his single-vineyard Barolos and
Barbarescos in favor of adding a touch of Barbera to achieve
higher acidity and freshness. This is the case in the Sperss,
a name that means “nostalgia” in the local dialect
and refers to a particular vineyard in the Marenca- Rivetta
area of Serralunga. The Gaja family purchased grapes from
this site until 1961, when they began producing wines exclusively
from their own vineyards. Angelo eventually came to covet
the quality of fruit previously purchased from the area
and bought the plot in 1988 and the rest is winemaking history.
*These wines are sold as future arrivals.
Click
for more on Giacomo Conterno’s Monfortino.
Alfredo Roagna's 96: Worth an Extra Look
Roagna
– I Paglieri 1996 Barbaresco $29.98 (375ml)*
Four generations of the Roagna family have crafted wines at
the I Paglieri estate. Today, Alfredo Roagna runs the winery
with the help of his wife Luigina and son Luca. Roagna adheres
to an ultra-traditional style of winemaking, concentrating
on the varietal character and terroir, and offering his products
at reasonable prices. This classic Barbaresco from the Pajé
site exemplifies the estate style in the way it firmly conveys
the singular character of the Nebbiolo grape. Equally important
is the way that the vineyard brings out macho tannins yet
also shares in the finesse found in Asili and Rabajà
(refer to the wines of Giacosa).
Roagna
– I Paglieri 1996 Barbaresco Crichët Pajé
$59.95*
È l’espressione massima della nostra cantina,
è tradizione allo stato puro—“It is the
greatest expression of our estate, it is tradition in its
purest form,” is the Roagnas’ description of
their Barbaresco Crichët Pajé. The wine was
created when Roagna sought to design a wine that went a
step beyond the excellence of the riserva. This superlative
bottling is made only in the best vintages—on average,
just one or two years in a decade will meet Roagna’s
strict standards—and production is limited to 400
cases. The huge, strong tannins imposed by the Pajé
vineyard epitomize the traditional, age worthy expression
of Nebbiolo. The wine’s character and structure are
nurtured by its unusually long 75-day maceration—a
process that prepares it to age for decades to come.
Roagna
– I Paglieri 1996 Barolo La Rocca e la Pira $44.95*
Roagna – I Paglieri 1996 Barolo La Rocca e la Pira
$29.98 (375ml)*
Roagna’s Barolo La Rocca e la Pira is an expression
of the historic Pira vineyard (once known as Rocca) in Rocche
di Castiglione Falletto. The estate’s stalwart focus
on the expression of the Nebbiolo and the terroir shines
through in this wine, with substantial vanilla tannins and
a rich bouquet. Like all Roagna wines from this vintage,
La Rocca e la Pira has been long withdrawn and is just now
starting to reveal itself—an indication of its superb
capacity for aging.
*These wines are sold as future arrivals.
Click
to Shop IWM’s Producer List.
Exceptional
QPR from 1996
Paitin
1996 Barbaresco Sorì Paitin $47.50*
In 1796, Benedetto Elia (Paitin) purchased a two-hectare vineyard
in the famous Serraboella; thirty years later he acquired
two more hectares, a house, and a cellar. In 1893, Elia’s
grandson Giuseppe restructured the cellar and started to bottle
Barbaresco Sorì Paitin. Today, the historic estate
has shed its traditional approach and has begun to experiment
with barrique aging and international varietals. Still, the
Nebbiolo remains at the heart of these wines—especially
the estate’s cru Barbaresco, Sori Paitin. The intense
drink, made from fruit grown in the eastern Neive vineyard
site, is one of the region’s best values.
Produttori
del Barbaresco 1996 Barbaresco $39.50*
Produttori del Barbaresco defies the commonly-held stereotype
of the cooperative as the maker of sub- par wines. Instead,
the winery has distinguished itself as a top producer of
one of Italy’s most renowned wines. The excellence
of their wines derives from a selection process that relegates
lesser quality grapes to a simple Nebbiolo bottling and
separates the most distinctive batches for cru wines. Most
of the high quality fruit is then blended to make this model
Barbaresco, which shows the classic character of the DOCG
by harmoniously melding the attributes of the various vineyards.
G.B.
Burlotto 1996 Barolo Monvigliero $44.95*
G.B. Burlotto, who founded his estate in the mid-nineteenth
century, is widely considered a local visionary for his
ability to anticipate the demands of the modern wine market.
The estate, which is currently owned and operated by Burlotto’s
great-granddaughter Marina and her family, is located in
the commune of Verduno in Barolo. The Monvigliero, the estate’s
signature wine, comes from 45-year-old vines (the estate’s
oldest) spread over two hectares at 380 meters above sea
level. The south-facing site is composed of moderately impacted
chalky soil and limestone. After being aged for 30 months
in French and Slovenian oak casks, the wine matures in the
bottle for 24 months.
G.B.
Burlotto 1996 Barolo Neirane $44.95*
Verduno, one of the eleven communes that make up the Barolo
DOCG, produces Barolo that ages effortlessly. The Savoy
court held wines from Verduno in especially high regard,
which may have encouraged bottling in this region at a time
when most winemakers in the Langhe were using demijohns
and casks. Although their soil composition and altitude
are similar to that of Monvigliero, the vineyards that produce
Neirane are oriented toward the west rather than the south.
The vines are also younger—they average 25 years—and
their grapes produce wines that are slightly more approachable.
G.B.
Burlotto 1996 Barolo Cannubi $44.95*
Cannubi, also known as Cannubio, is derived from the Italian
word for union, which best describes the rare hybrid of
Barolo’s two distinct soil types - Tortonian and Helvetian
- marrying their respective characteristics of perfume and
elegance with structure and concentration. The prestigious
Cannubi vineyard lies where three communes of the appellation
converge: Barolo, Castiglione Falletto, and La Morra. The
Cannubi vineyard extends north and eastward, overlooking
the commune of Barolo. The reputation of the vineyard has
become legendary, as the label of the oldest remaining bottle
of Piedmontese wine bears the name Cannubi 1752.
Anselma
1996 Barolo Adasi $372.90 (3.0L)
Maurizio Anselma is an emerging force in Barolo. Today,
the university-trained Anselma is determined to turn the
winery that his mother and father founded into a first-rate,
quality-centered business. Anselma, who has a keen respect
for history, vows that his estate will make only Barolo
and never single vineyard wines. The Adasi is a riserva
crafted to evolve and improve with time—a powerful,
elegant drink that shows great balance and structure.
*These wines are sold as future arrivals.
Click
for more recent offers from IWM.
Vintage
1996 Six-Pack Sampler
This is a historic offering of tremendous quality at exceptional
prices (some of which we’ve left unchanged since the
original years of release). These difficult-to-find wines
include a classic cru, ‘Bussia Soprana,’ from
Monforte d’Alba, the backbone of Barolo’s muscle;
a classic cuvee from the venerated producer Mascarello; a
great value Barbaresco in ‘Sorì Paitin’;
and another that defies the cooperative stereotype; the double-
named, single-vineyard Barolo, ‘La Rocca e La Pira’;
and finally, the ultra- traditional Barbaresco ‘Crichët
Pajè,’ only made once or twice a decade.
Aldo Conterno 1996 Barolo Bussia Soprana**
Bartolo Mascarello 1996 Barolo
Paitin 1996 Barbaresco Sorì Paitin**
Produttori del Barbaresco 1996 Barbaresco**
Alfredo Roagna 1996 Barolo La Roccha e La Pira**
Alfredo Roagna 1996 Barbaresco Crichët Pajè**
IWM Vintage 1996 Six Pack: $356.30
IWM Vintage 1996 Case of Twelve (Two of Each): $712.60
*Free delivery in Manhattan
**These wines are sold as future arrivals.
Click
for more six pack samplers from IWM.
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