2016 Barolo Notes (added Vajra Barolo Ravera & Coste di Rose)

Couple more F. Alessandria 2016s tasted over a couple of nights this weekend. Did Osso Buco (sous vide) last tonight with Risotto Milanese — great with the wines.

2016 F. Alessandria Barolo
Soaring floral nose with some blood orange, white pepper and pomegranate in the background. Mouth-filling, some richness brought into balance with grip and crisp acids underneath all the fresh fruity goodness. Love it.

2016 F. Alessandria San Lorenzo
Very similar to the normale — but notably deeper and slightly darker fruit. This is a powerful wine. Perfect blend of richness and structure. Long finish. One of the better 2016s I’ve tried so far. Highly recommended.

Tonight opened another on deck 2016 Barolo:

2016 F. Serio & Battista Borgogno Barolo Cannubi
This is the first 2016 Barolo I’ve had where there’s been a distinct green note on the nose. My wife called it wheatgrass. It’s close to currant leaf for me — but, it’s definitely green. Also shows some bright cherry fruit, toasted star anise, and maybe some faint brett? Very complex nose. Mid-weight palate is tight — pomegranate and tart cherry fruit wrapped up in a lot of acidity with a really firm tannic backbone. If you’re looking for a rich, sensuous 2016 Barolo, like some of the P. Scavino wines, this isn’t it. But there’s something really interesting about this. I’ll bet this wine will be crazy aromatic when it matures. If the fruit fills out, it will be an epic value. Worth a bet for sure.


I can’t get over how good these 2016s are.

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Thanks Jim. I’m with you on the vintage and how good the wines are. Thanks for posting on the F. Alessandria Normale. I picked up a few more over the weekend at a great price( Union Square Wines). Here are the one’s I’ve had so far with brief thoughts

Cordero Montezemolo Monfalletto- my 2nd favorite normal right now( behind Burlotto). A touch on the modern side but so good and really ready right now. Not as rich as the Scavino Monvigliero. Continued to develop over several hours and never shut down. Bought more

Burlotto- What can you say other than wow. A step up from 15 it is young but showing well. I love the style. If you have enough try one now. These are still around a bit if your willing to pay a premium

Vietti Castiglione- wow will give the Burlotto a run for the money in a few years. Classical expression that I had from a 375. It tightens up with air. 12 hours later the last few ounces were better and show tremendous promise. Bought more easy case purchase.

Luigi Pira Serralunga- more expressive and open than Massolino. It opens up nicely with air and very good with food. A nice Serralunga now to try but will be better in 3 years. Going to buy more

Massolino Serralunga- wow, wall of tannin. Flavors peaked out a bit over the first 2 hours before shutting down. A very classical expression that will be a beautiful wine in 5 years. It was open and showing on day 3. Bought more and will leave them alone.

Paulo Scavino- needs an hour then starts to show and continues to develop with air. A more modern easy drinking wine that delivers for the price. Not my favorite but a solid wine. Preferred 16 Sandrone Nebbiolo quite a bit over this one. Perhaps not a fair compare but price was about the same.

My only cru so far
Scavino Monvigliero- rated it 97. Very modern style delivered in a big riper style. Beautiful nose. I think with some time these will shed some baby fat. Preferred it with food(veal chop) and on day 2. posted a full note here.

What am I most excited to try next ? F. Rinaldi and F. Allesandria Normale’s. A lot of wine is showing up over the next 3 weeks in Florida !

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I have Burlotto in the on deck circle. It will have to be unusually good to justify buying more, particularly given the quality of the F. Alessandria normale. Actually, you can get many of the vineyard designates for the price of the Burlotto normale.

I went to my local Total Wine to pick up a bottle of Vermouth Sunday. I generally don’t buy wine there but I peeked on the Piedmont section and they had the Vietti for $40. I needed it like I needed a hole in my head but hey, it was $40 a bottle, so I left with a six pack. I agree that it is terrific in 2016. If it turns out as good as the lesser 2005 I had a few weeks ago, I’ll be happy.

I have a lot to try in the coming weeks. When I go deep in a vintage I like to try everything up front. With my notes and a generally good memory when it comes to wine, it’s fun to reflect back on where you were right and wrong about the evolution of particular wines.

Hoping to do a tasting of the Fratelli, Vietti Castiglione and Paolo Scavino Barolo this weekend. Will report back.

Really nice to see a note on this producer. I had a wonderful afternoon many years ago with Serio and his daughter (current winemaker) at the winery. An old friend of mine had told me about a fantastic bottle of 1961 Barolo he’d had from this producer. They are the oldest producer in Cannubi and are located right in the middle of the cru with Cannubi plots all around them. I found their wines to be really high quality old school stuff and ended up drinking a half case of the 1996 Cannubi in the 8-14 year range. It would have been nice to save some for longer, but it was delicious already and I just wanted to drink it. No regrets! [cheers.gif]

The Alessandria will be a little like Bordeaux among Cali Cabs to use an analogy. Look past that fact and you’ll find a really great wine. But, together with those other two, I suspect it will likely come across as a little less rich. They’re all three very good in their own right. And, the Scavinos crus are a steal, IMO.

Good to know and I’ll definitely be looking at it like this

Jim- have you picked up Pira ? Definitley worth checking out their normale. I think the only F. Alessandria cru more than Burlotto normale is the Monvigliero so your spot on in terms of value. I think the Gramolere will be the first F. A cru I try.

If you mean the Luigi Pira Serralunga d’Alba, then yes. It was among the first I bought. I tried it a couple of months ago and liked it. It’s a pretty hard wine, though. Quite tannic but with good fruit too. It’s $30 here. Good to have things like that around to keep your hands off the good stuff.

I had the Gramolere last night and posted on it.

The E. Pira Chiara Boschis wines on deck (Via Nuova, Cannubi, and Moscone). I may open them this weekend.

That’s a great price for the Pira.

Just had one of my NY retailers tell me the 3 bottles of Chiara Cannubi could not be filled as they oversold their supply even though I bought in Sept. Ended up with 1 bottle. First world problems for sure but was hoping to snag a few. Did you purchase F. Rinaldi ?

Yes. Bussia, Cannubi, and Brunate. It seemed like the reviews were fairly consistently luke warm. As I only have a couple of each, and as they tend to be rather hard and close down, I may not be opening them.

Gordons has some of the Chiara Cannubi be if I’m not mistaken.

Jim- thanks for the heads up on Gordon’s. I was able to pick up some of the Cannubi at a solid price.

I opened the 16 base F. Alessandria last night, wow what a terrific wine. Saved half a bottle to see how it does over 2 days. What a terrific wine and value.

Had a couple more 2016 Barolo tonight:

2016 Bruna Grimaldi Barolo Badarina
After being open a couple hours, the sulfur thankfully blows off. Rusty iron, violet, cinnamon, some hard candy cherry fruit. The longer it sits, the more it opens up. Mid-weight palate — lots of energy with zippy acids and plenty of structure wrapped around a good core of fruit. Powdery, ripe tannins. Really nice balance. Liked this one a lot after it opened up. Really a beautiful wine. Highly recommended.

2016 Burlotto Barolo
Some sulfur to blow off here too. Quiet nose — some tart cherry, a floral note, some orange peel. Interesting on the palate — it’s rounder than many of its peers but not because its riper or richer. Some clove-like spice. Can’t help but think of the 2015 Produttori di Carema Riserva when drinking this wine. Very different from other 2016 Barolo tasted so far — like it. Very good — but, at $65, there are (much) better options, IMO. From 375ml

2016 Paolo Scavino Bric del Fiasc
Huge nose from the decanter while pouring. After an hour decanted — Very complex, sweet and lifted nose with cherries, some thyme, and something verging on baking spice. Plenty of fruit covering powdery tannins — everything in nice balance. Juicy and crunchy wine. Multidimensional is a good word for this. Very good. Classic iron fist in a velvet glove kind of wine. A keeper.

Tasted the Fiasc back in jan before lockdown while a winery rep was on a pre-arrival tour. Really liked it also and tops in the line up. Bought several

Went thru with the 2016 “entry levels” yesterday. All were decanted for 3-4 hours before being consumed.

Vietti Castiglione - jumps out of the glass with leather and cigar aromas, nice acidity and not too tannic at the moment. Probably my favorite of the night

F Alessandria Normale - I had high hopes but this just didn’t deliver. Very light, not much on the nose but for some mint, eucalyptus and alcohol. Palate had a nice backbone of acidity and berries but the finish was rather short

Paolo Scavino - pretty nose of berries to start but that eventually faded and the tannins just took over. Smelled like tea and tasted like tea.

All in all these were ok and fun to compare. Would I buy more? Maybe just because its my wedding year.

Chris, if you don’t mind me asking, what do you normally drink? And how long have you been buying wine?

I was married in 1992. I only wish I had a vintage like 2016 to pick from! You’ve got basically everything to choose from.

Mainly Syrah and Chard (White Burgundy). I drink a good amount of Barbera also. Trying to get into Barolo just having trouble getting acquainted to it. It may be not be my thing. I’ve been going at this whole wine thing for 4-5 years now.

Chris- I’m wondering if decanting might have affected at least the F Alessandria. I found it to be much more expressive than you both on the nose and palate. I loved it and the Vietti though I thought the Vietti needs a few years. I thought the Scavino was fine but of the 3 only one I didn’t buy more than I already have.

If you try anymore 16 Barolo I would skip the decanting and try them over a few hours from bottle. Too much air can definitely shut down some.

I promised myself I was done buying 2016 Barolo, how did I miss this one [cheers.gif]