Trip Report - Barolo and norther Rhone

Did a 2+ week sightseeing trip to Europe with a few days in wine country included earlier this month. Started in Edinburgh Scotland where my daughter is going to grad school. Spent 3 nights there and then headed to Italy where we spent the next 3 nights in Manarola in the Cinque Terre. I really liked the CT. Stunning scenery. Wasn’t really a wine visit, but did go through several bottle of the local Cinque Terre whites which I enjoyed. Had a memorable meal at Trattoria Billy in Manarola with stunning views and very good pastas. Left the Cinque Terre on saturday June 9 and headed to wine country.

June 9 - Barolo - Made a quick stop at Produttori di Barbaresco on the way into the region. The only wine they were pouring was the 15 Barbaresco. Liked it quite a bit.

Was supposed to have an appointment at Elvio Cogno, but that fell through. We ended going to the town of Barolo and stopped in tasting rooms at Damilano and Gianni Gagliardo. I was pretty impressed with the Damilano wines. Ended up bringing back a bottle of 2000 Barolo Riserva.

June 10 - Barolo - Appointments at Broccardo, Giovanni Sordo and Le Strette. After a leisurely morning and lunch in La Morra,headed to first appointment, Filippo Broccardo. Started with a stop at their San Giovanni vineyard and then a drive overlooking paiagallo vineyard just west of the town of Barolo. Stunning views. They poured 3 wines - a Rosato, a Barbera and their 2014 Barolo. The Rosato went over really well as it was a hot afternoon. The Barolo was a bit on the soft side for my tastes.

Next stop was Giovanni Sordo. Didn’t know much about this winery, but had recently bought some bottles of their 2012 Gabutti on a really good deal at Costco. They had some the option of doing Barolo verticals so I signed up for an appointment for a chance to taste some older vintages. They did a tour of their facilities which were pretty impressive. I am guessing they must be one of the bigger Barolo producers. They had spotless facilies with rows of stainless tanks and large wooded barrels to handle the various wines they produces. They actually produce 8 different Barolo crus. We ended up doing a 3 vintage verticals each of the their Gabutti and Perno single vineyard wines. These were pretty impressive wines to my uneducated Barolo pallete. Favorite was a 04 Perno.



Final stop of the day was an evening stop at Le Strette which was within easy walking distance from the Airbnb house we rented in Novello. Originally, this was supposed to be a morning appointment but was moved to the evening to meet with Savio Daniele’s travel schedule. This was one of our most interesting wine stops on this vacation. To say Savio is passionate about his work is an understatement. We ended up spending a big chunk of sunday evening with Savio as he talked about their white wine Nascetta project among other things. He poured 5 wines - the 16 Nascetta white, a Barbera, Langhe Nebbiolo and 2 Barolos - 13 Bergeisa and 13 Corinin Pallaretta. Liked all of the wines. Would loved to have been able to buy a case of the Nascetta as it was a very distinctive tasty white at a ridiculously low price a little over 10E. Bought a bottle of the Corinin Pallarette.

Monday June 11 - Left Barolo and drove across the alps to Tain l’Hermitage. Arrived a little after lunch. Two tastings today - Coursodon in Mauves and Chapoutier.

Coursodon is a St Joseph producer. Did a fairly quick tour of their wine making facilities and they poured white and red St Joseph - their Silice white and red and their Olivae red. They were sold out of their Paradis which I believe is their top offering. These wine were all very good values.

Chapoutier. Had a formal tasting reserved at their wine store/tasting room in town. This tasting ended up being one of the more memorable of our trip. They were incredibly generous, giving a a virtual wine tour of the northern Rhone with their CPD thrown in at the end. They ended up pouring
15 Invitare Condrieu
15 Chante Aloute Hermitage blanc
An IGP red
15 Les Granilites St Joseph rouge
16 Les Bacesses Cote Rotie
15 Les Arenes Cornas
15 La Sizeranne Hermitage

At the end they poured the 15 La Bernardine Chateauneuf after my son asked a question about it.

All were good but the standouts to me were the Cornas and the La Sizeranne. The Cornas had a major black pepper component to it that I really liked. The Hermitage had some more complex leathery type of aromas.

Tuesday June 12 - Morning appointment at Voge in Cornas and 5pm appointment at Gonon. In between stopped at Jaboulet’s tasting room.

Alaine Voge - Much of my family was getting wined out by this point, so just my son and I went on this morning appointment. This ended up being another highlight of the trip. Met with Lionel Fraisse who is one of the key members of the winery team. Also briefly met Alain Voge. Had the sense they don’t take a lot of visitors and the ones they do take are pretty serious. Felt lucky to have made an appointment here. Really enjoyed meeting with Lionel. He did a very generous tasting which included 3 St Peray whites (16 Harmonie, Ongrie and Fleur de Crussol), a red St Joseph 16 Les Cotes, 2 Cornas (16 Les Chailles and 15 Vieille VIgnes) and a sparkling St Peray. Really liked all of these wines. Favorite was the Vieille Vignes.





Jaboulet - did their red/white Hermitage tasting at the tasting bar with my son. Included 15 Chevalier di Sterimburg white, 12 Petite Chapelle Hermitage red and 06 La Chapelle. The white and petite Chapelle were good, but the 06 La Chapelle was in a different league. I will say the 06 La Chapelle was easily the best wine I tasted on this trip and one of the best wines I have ever had. I was shocked at how good this was. I thought this wine was spectacular. Very intense, but totally in balance and had really nice leathery/early character to it.

Gonon - We shared this appointment with a Japanese chef and with a Swiss wine importer. I felt a little funny standing there with my family sharing this appointment with others that were there in a professional capacity. Pierre, however, made us feel totally welcome. I did not take notes and the bottle he poured weren’t labeled, so I might be wrong on some of what he poured. Started with what I believe was a 17 white St Joseph.

Onto the reds, did a 17 St Joseph barrel sample, 16 and 15 from bottle, an IGP and then an older vintage. He had us all guess the vintage and everyone was guessing from 10 to 15 years old. . It ended up being the 98 St Joseph I believe. Enjoyed this appointment, but did feel a little intimidated being there as the only non ITB visitors.

One more day to come. If I can figure out how to post pics from Google Drive, I will include some. Tried doing an image link, but that didn’t seem to work when I looked at it on Preview.

Thanks for the great notes! Headed to Barolo in 2 weeks and filling in my appointments now followed by the second half of the week in Bellagio. Went to Rhone a couple summers ago including Cdp, Hermitage and Cote Rotie. Big education in N Rhones which are now a staple in the cellar. Hope to educate myself on Baroli similarly hopeful tasted a few aged ones and have some great food too.

Wednesday June 13 - Left Tain l’Hermitage to head toward the Alps w. On the way, we drove up through Condrieu and Cote Rotie. Had an appointment at Domaine Duclause which is on the south side of Cote Rotie. A small producer run by two brothers, Benjamin and David Duclaux. We met with Benjamin who is another passionate producer and stressed that he pursues wines with elegance and balance.

He poured a Condrieu and I believe 3 Cote Rotie’s - 16 La Germine, 16 La Chana and his top end wine 15 Maison Rouge. Not surprisingly, the Maison Rouge was my favorite with a little more structure. Brought home a bottle to open in a decade or so.

After leaving Duclaux, we left the Rhone valley and headed to the Alps.