Excellent primer for vintages. I would only differ about '14; the weather was dreadful for much of the growing season, but some producers still made beautiful wines, I have no idea how. The best examples are exactly what the OP was looking for, I think.
I have cellared quite a bit of '12 and '14 as well as '10 and '16.
Well said Oliver, and I probably should have more clearly expressed my '14 thoughts. I think it is a vintage that you need to taste the specific wine before buying. I agree with your better conveyed insight that the better '14s do fit his needs well. My favorites from the vintage are embarrassingly what I would feel based on my palate preference are the cost no object top producers in the region. I feel bad as I generally really get more excited about an unexpected success or someone hitting it out of the park.
As you alluded to, '14 offered so many challenges that unless you are a vigneron savant and likely also have the resources to do tremendous vineyard work and culling of lesser fruit, it was very hard to make good wine. I guess that makes sense that my relatively unoriginal most successful producers in '14: G Conterno, Burlotto, MT Mascarello made my favorite wines of the vintage. Many of them are hauntingly perfumed and graceful iron fist in a velvet glove the of wines.
Roagna, Vajra (especially the Baudana Cru bottlings), and Cogno also made some terrific wines. I think these three producers are among the best producers in the region that still are affordable to mortals. Other ones in Barolo that have not gone crazy in pricing, that I thought did well in 14 and would be good wines for Alex to cellar: F Alessandria Monvigliero, Poderi Collaās Bussia, Sandri, Massolino off the top of my head.
In Barbaresco, the PdB excelled, Serafino Rivella, and many others did very well.
Iām sure I am forgetting quite a few as I am just pulling this off the top of my head.
That said, with all these very good to great wines in 14, I have tasted a larger number of thin to dreadful wines. I feel like I have a pretty good grasp of producers I like in the region and I had some pretty poor bottles from some of my personal favorite producers. I prefer not list these bottles or producers as I really like them as people, and they have made such good wine for so long. Everyone deserves a Mulligan. Not everyone can pull a miracle out of a year like 14.
Thank you for posting this as you are completely right and I gave it short shrift.
Cheers,
For 35 years Iāve drunk countless bottles of Nebbioloā¦and thought, mehā¦Just not my grape. Canāt love them all. Then five years ago went to Del Posto in Manhattan and splurged for a Barolo from the early 70ās. Looked like a rose in the glass. But lightening struckā¦Holy Shitā¦this is what the wine is/can/wants to be. Iām sorryā¦you can drink all the young Barolos and Barbarescos you want. Unless youāve got something with 25-30 years on itā¦Iād just rather drink something else. So, either pony up the cheese and buy at auction or on-premise, or drink a perfectly acceptable Brunello, Chianti, or Barbera with your Piedmontese Agnolotti con Brodo.
There is plenty of aged Barolo available at affordable prices, at least as an occasional indulgence. Check out Chambers Street Wines, located in NYC, but online. I concur with others that young Nebbiolo can be delicious, but itās a fundamentally different experience than an aged bottle.
Not Barolo, but if the intent is to drink good Nebbiolo at a decent price, I like Ar.pe.pe Sassella Stella Retica Riserva with 8 to 10 years on them.
Great advice so far on Barolo. You may want to check out Roero as well. It has many of the same expressions of Barolo, is close enough in terroir and is almost always eminently affordable. Itās one of the better secrets in Italian wine ā especially since so much of the attention goes into Roero Arneis.