Historically, I’d have agreed with you - there’s no rush to buy as many vintages linger on the market. But the problem is you have no idea how they’ve been stored over that period, and even if you’re buying a year or two after release, that’s more than enough time for it to get damaged. At this point, if I want the wine I try to buy it ASAP and it’s a rush to get it in my cellar or Domaine as fast as possible where I know it’ll be stored right. Otherwise 5 years later you open your first bottle of a case and go oh crap. I’ve had a few instances like that now, luckily with cheaper wines like a Vajra or Grasso or Francesco Rinaldi, but it still sucks. Barolo also seems to be a sensitive wine storage wise and one where historically it wasn’t taken care of very well. Everyone will have their own risk tolerance but at this point, I only backfill or buy older wines where the provenance is clear, from the importer ie Rare Wine Co, or from UK in bond, or if not at what feels like an extreme discount for the risk.
Makes sense. So far, I’ve been lucky, but even buying from a retailer carries some risk if its been sitting on a shelf for a long while. And the secondary market is even a bigger risk (though some auction websites are much better than WineBid at disclosing where the wines come from).
Also, for some reason, I tend to have pretty good luck with finding '13s being offered at good prices by some reputable retailers, so I’ve been pulling the trigger (less so with '16s).
Hmm. Not sure I agree with this (though I’ve agreed with many of your other posts). I don’t feel that Nebbiolo is particularly sensitive to these risks. My success rate with older Nebbiolo, whether 12 years or 50, is higher than with most varieties. Pinot, IMO, is far more delicate than Nebbiolo. Acid and tannin essentially act as preservatives, and Nebbiolo has both in spades. (the only thing it’s missing for the trifecta is sugar).
Look, if anything has sat on a dock in summer sun it may well be shot, but assuming even decent storage I’ll trust serious Nebbiolo more than most. In any case, I’ll gladly backfill 10s, 13s, 15s, and 16s. In five years if a wealth of good vintages leads to great pricing on 19s, I’ll be all over those as well. There is no substitute for buying on release, particularly if you have great sourcing, but in the absence of that kind of sourcing I’ll happily backfill.
I guess analyzing the sensitivity of a varietal to storage would be really difficult to do scientifically, so it’s hard to say - everyone just has their own anecdotes to go on. I think of Bordeaux / Cabernet as sturdy wine and Barolo/Pinot as more fragile. I’m not sure if that is backed by science. I also think for me, I find Nebbiolo to be a lot less attractive once it starts to develop slight oxidative notes, which may not be the case for everyone.
I think more importantly, at least historically, Barolo/Barbaresco are wines that have not been considered that important and not necessarily collected in case quantities by sophisticated collectors with great storage. Wine storage in Italy and even winery cellar temperatures* in Piedmont are also questionable, even to this day in some cases.
With Barolo becoming a lot more valuable over the past ~10 years, in theory, it’s more likely bottles have been taken care of & backfilling will be lower risk than before, I think.
*Sort of an aside, but I’ve come to notice that a number of cellars in Barolo, at acclaimed but maybe more mid-tier wineries, are not really that cold, even a few weeks ago in November. Something that came up on my visit to Nervi. One of the first things Roberto did after buying Nervi was install temperature control to the cellar, as he believes a constant cellar temp year round is important for the wines to not mature unevenly in the barrels.
Agreed that it is largely anecdotal for sure. I suppose my luck has been better with Nebbiolo than some, particularly Burgundy. And I always find the attempt to impose too much science on wine to be difficult, not least due to the human factor. That said, I think of tannin and acid as preservative, and Nebbiolo has a lot of both. As for cellar temps, again, you may well be right, but ex cellar releases from the '50s and beyond from Vallana, Borgogno, Rinaldi, and many others have been sound so the cellars must be relatively safe, even if not as deep and cold as those in Burgundy, for instance.
I found this comment coming from Ian D’Agata related to the 2019s quite interesting:
“ There are undoubtedly many very good to great Barolos in the 2019 vintage, but 2019 is not the unabashed success all us Barolo fans were hoping for. Any tasting of large numbers of 2019 Barolos will confirm that many wines are, and will, remain charmless.”
Everything I can recall from this thread has been in the unabashed success category.
Thanks for posting that. Everything ive read has noted its a classic vintage, and while the words have been generally positive there seems to be an undertone from the critics of “know what youre getting into”
2019 is undoubtedly an austere vintage, (especially right now), so I get why he would say many of the wines are charmless and that it isn’t a vintage in which you should buy blindly without tasting or at least having experience with the producer in previous vintages.
But, if you’re buying the producers that we always talk about on this board, you’re probably going to be fine. I can only speak of the 2019s that I’ve tasted, but those I’ve had have been promising (though the tannins are forceful and drying at this point).
Agree that buying producers is the safest bet, at the same time (with reservation that I read it wrong) I believe quite a few are buying quite wide due to the vintage supposedly being good across the board.
I didn’t tase any Barolos yet, but have liked many of the the LNs I have tried. I can imagine that with the more extreme weather conditions the variability within the Barolo (and Barbaresco) might become even more of a thing then in the past.
From the few notes and comments I have read, I get the feeling that Serralunga for example did really well in 2019. Curious to hear from those who have had the opportunity to taste through most of the communes and relatively wide… As well as if someone tasted through one commune in more depth.
I have had hundreds of captivating, stellar Nebbiolo wines older than 40 years. Up to 70. Some of them surely must have been stored in an environment not perfect for long term storage
Nebbiolo seem to be very robust regarding storage at fluctuating and higher temperatures
I’m sure more experienced posters have more info
Actually the talk on the Vinous forum of late is the erratic and inconsistent performance of Nebbiolo from the 90s and 2000s. Many well respected “Nebb heads” have reported recent concerning experiences with such highly regarded procurers as Bartolo Mascarello, Cappellano and Giacomo Conterno. The vintages often referenced have been 1996, 2001, 2004 and 2006.
The suspected factor often cited is poor cork quality. In the case of Cappellano, the corks are insanely small for such a highly thought of winery. It does sound like the “hit rate” has improved dramatically since 2008 or 2010. Time will tell.
Cellar hygiene has also been referenced in certain cases. I think this issue has largely been rectified over the last 10-15 years throughout the Langhe.
By no means is this issue as widespread as say with White Burgundy, but Piedmont still has a long way to go before it can mentioned in the same conversation as Bordeaux regarding ageability.
Well it has been documented several times that Nebbiolo ages effortless for decades. There are plenty of posts here
I know of no other red grape aging more gracefully