I’ve rarely seen truer words on the boards! I used to easily be able to buy a case or more of all the Burlotto crus (unfortunately couldn’t afford as much as was offered), starting with 2013 my allocation just keeps going down and the prices offered on the Monvig keeps going up.
I’m sure this is old news to lots of folks on the board, but man I hate reviews, especially ones with 100points attached.
That’s way too much risk for any retailer I’m familiar with.
Maybe Total Wine or Costco are big enough to take a gamble like that [in conjunction with an importer like Southern W&S], but I can’t imagine any corporate bean-counter approving the idea.
Unless they had a mole in the White House, like Jared Kushner, who could grease the skids for them [in which case I suppose they could attempt an “Hunt Brothers” takeover of the market].
But it’s way too much risk for a normie without a mole.
Gotta have a mole.
You know, the more I think about it, the more it feels like Southern W&S would be precisely the sort of outfit which would have the ethnic mafia ties with the Kushner Family Crime Syndicate necessary to pull off a hustle like that.
Either Southern, or Skurnik.
I wonder if they’ve been very quietly working on that angle all along?
To be fair the prices of Burlotto is still relatively low for the quality. Obviously their different cru’s are great, but also both their Langhe nebbiolo and both whites are gorgeous.
@Martin. Thanks for your response regarding Luigi Pira. I’m very tempted to buy into their 2016 lineup 
. I have a 2013 Vigna Rionda but I don’t plan to open that one anytime soon.
Hi guys, any new tasting ? Hope everyone is well .
$300 a bottle is relatively low?
Checking in on this thread. Any interesting purchases of late? Comments on pricing?
My order arrived this week. Winex must ve done the same tasting as I as they brought in a bunch. My buddy asked Tristan why he ordered what he ordered and he said he ordered what he liked best. His two favorites were the same as mine. The Fiasc and the Monvigliero. I picked up some extra Fiasc from winex too
Pretty quiet now. I expect more new releases will arrive after September
FYI, E. pira via nuova at MacArthur for $99, half the price of K&L. 6 left.
I would really caution on using Galloni’s scores as the only input for what you buy. I really respect everything he’s done and his palate is pretty good (it took bravery to point out that Gaja, G Mascarello and Giacosa stopped making great wines) - but I still have never had a Vietti I would cross the street for (and that includes the Ravera 13 multiple times from 750 and mag): for my palate they over-Oaked in the 00s and as they dialled that back by 06/07/08 but now they over-extract.
Burlotto’s Monvigliero is another one - I own about 60 bottles plus dbl mags, of 06-12 all bought at $40/750ml. I can’t really understand the hype around these now - having drunk multiple bottles of the 13.
So: trust your own palate and stick to producers you know you like
I also respect that he actually takes a stand and not just go for the noncontroversial scores all the time. But I agree with you and it it is not all his scores I agree with too. In case of Vietti, it would seem that other critics scores the wine much lower, which only support your notion as well. However I like a wine with a personality in the sense that you can taste the producers specific style and the fact that it doesn’t just taste like any barolo. And in that light I think Burlottos barolos are very special because they are true to a specific style. You may like or dislike that style of course. It is the same for B. Mascarello, Aldo Conterno and Elio Altare to name a few. A producer that also gains a lot of good scores from critics and on this board as well is Elio Grasso. Maybe i’ve just been unlucky but so far I don’t understand all the praise. I had both his 2014 barolo and his gavarini chiniera 2013, both which I found to not deliver enough fruit for the present tannin(the 2013 was by far the better one).
I recently bought these:
Brovia Villero, Brea, Rocche and Normale.
Vietti Masseria (I can’t as of now justify the price tag on the crus)
Francesco Rinaldi Crus
G. Rinaldi Tre tine and Langhe
Chiara Boschis Cannubi
Poderi Colla Roncaglie
Principiano Boscareto, Ravera and Normale
F. Alessandria Monvigliero and Normale
Vietti Castiglione
I guess I don’t understand the feedback on Galloni and Vietti. He scored the 2013 Ravera 100 points but other critics had it in the very high nineties, which is consistent with his rating. Also, that wine isn’t even close to being ready to drink, for what it’s worth.
Vietti is an interesting one. I think perhaps because the winery has changed style over time and was quite modern at a point in the late 90s (a 1998 Vietti Brunate someone brought to a blind tasting was a pretty good wine, but it wasn’t even clear it was Nebbiolo) and has dialed that back, and/or because it’s now owned by an American, it lacks the consistency and romance of some of the other wineries in Barolo that have really skyrocketed in price. In 2016, while I’ve hardly tasted the full lot of Barolo as many have yet to arrive physically, the Vietti wines are extraordinary. The 2016 Rocche is perhaps the best young wine I’ve ever tasted alongside the '10 G. Rinaldi Brunate. It’s nuts and if you love Barolo you’ve got to try to find that wine, in my view. I’ve tasted it twice now and each time went out to buy more. At this point, all of the Vietti wines I’ve tasted in '16 (base Castiglione, Rocche, Ravera, Brunate) come across as traditional in style so I don’t think that is a factor anymore. And the one older Vietti I’ve had, an 89 Rocche, was off the charts, so while there was that period in there where they went more modern than I’d like, they’ve been making excellent quality wines for a long time.
The only area I’d perhaps differ with AG on is I’d say I prefer the Rocche in 2016 vs. the Ravera, but we’re splitting hairs there as he scored them 99 & 100 respectively.
While I don’t fully understand it, I’m happy that the Vietti wines are available in the U.S. market at what I consider reasonable prices despite the quality and the scores, and despite very low production quantities (the '16 Rocche is all of 3,700 750ml bottles). All of the '16 Vietti have been available <$200 at retailers not gouging. It’s clearly a different story in Europe if you’re a restaurant or long standing buyer and can buy direct from wineries like Mascarello or Rinaldi at 50-60 EUR/btl or whatever it is now, as Vietti is to my understanding charging a similar price in Europe as they do in the U.S. But in the U.S. Vietti is actually very competitively priced.
Our Elio Grasso landed so I’ll be grabbing a 6-pack and mag of each. Will likely also grab Cogno, undecided on the rest.
Alfredo Currado was one of the giants of traditional Barolo during the 60s, 70s, and 80s. It was his son, Luca Currado, who turned it to the modern style - perhaps still excellent in some circles, but not a producer I ever bought after that.
Agreed that Vietti 13 (and 12 drunk at the same time) was infanticide, but I’ve had both of G Rinaldi’s 10/11/12/13s at a similar age and ditto those vintages of Pie Franco (and B Mascarello too now that I think about it). None of those came across as heavily over-extracted, dark, thick, or unrefreshing in the way Vietti’s did.
And before someone points out that I’m comparing this to wines most struggle to source - Sandrone’s Le Vigne 10 (also 100pt from Galloni) never showed as overextracted in its youth either.
Anyway, I’ve said my bit. Everyone has their own palate - trust yours.
Thanks, appreciate your perspective.
FYI, Wine.com has the 16 Vietti Rocche for the US low of $199 shipped to VA. With a $100 off code, stewardship and 11% off through RetailMeNot I was able to net two bottles for just under $140 each.
Andrew, what was the code you used? Thanks!