2006 BAROLO - Trattoria One Fifth, NYC. (3/13/2024)
A group of friends (most of them from the Nebbiolo group formed through the Vinous forum) met to check out the 2006 vintage in Barolo. The food and service at Trattoria One Fifth were very good.
NV Krug Champagne Brut Grande Cuvee Edition 169eme - France, Champagne
[Pop and pour.] Gorgeous nose of yeasty dough and lemon custard. Tart, complex, delicious, but needs a bit more time. (93 points)
Flight 1.
2006 Bartolo Mascarello Barolo - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
[Double decanted around 11am.] Smoky black fruit nose. In the mouth, elegant red fruit. Long, complex finish of graphite and red fruit. A terrific wine, but I think it will be even better in 5 years. (94 points)
2006 Giuseppe Rinaldi Barolo Cannubi San Lorenzo Ravera - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
[Double-decanted for one hour around 2pm.] The biggest surprise of the evening for me. This wine in other vintages always seems a bit thin, lacking the umph of the Brunate Le Coste. Not this one. Gorgeous nose of black fruit, licorice and spice. Big, structured, tannic, but showing loads of promise. The best Cannubi San Lorenzo Ravera I've ever had. (96 points)
2006 Giuseppe E Figlio Mascarello Barolo Monprivato - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
[Double decanted around 10am. Bottle left open until around 2pm.] Muted nose. Sour. Corked? Definitely an off bottle. :( (NR/flawed)
Flight 2.
I thought Flight 3 would be the best flight, but this one stole the show. Three terrific wines. Too bad that the Pira Riserva is over $700 in the US.
2006 Vietti Barolo Rocche - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
[Double decanted around 3pm.] Stunning perfume of black fruit and roses. Thick and rich fruit mostly hides the huge tannins. Classic Rocche. Terrific wine. Glad that I have a few. (96 points)
2006 Luca Roagna / Nero di Wongraven Barolo Unione - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
[Double-decanted for one hour around 10am.] Loads of black fruit in the nose. Sweet black fruit and plenty of tannin in the long finish. A bit better than the last time (2/28/2023). Maybe because it got more air. (94 points)
2006 Roagna Barolo Riserva Pira - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
[Opened around 3pm to check it was sound, so it got just a bit of air.] Stunning nose of black fruit, cloves, and licorice. Sweet red and black fruit in the attack and in the long, complex finish. Expansive and stunningly complex. WOTN. (98 points)
Flight 3.
2006 Luciano Sandrone Barolo Le Vigne - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
[Double decanted at 9am.] Big, smoky black fruit nose. Ripe black fruit. Long and tannic. A little too polished for my taste. Doesn't have the character of the best wines tonight. (92 points)
2006 Cappellano Barolo Piè Rupestris Otin Fiorin (Gabutti) - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
[Double-decanted for one hour around 10am.] Muted nose of black fruit and brown sugar. Mature but complex and long. Too advanced for this wine after only 18 years. I hope this was just an off bottle. Others in the group said they've had this with random bottles of this wine.
2006 Giacomo Conterno Barolo Cascina Francia - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
[Double decanted around 10am. Bottle left open until around 2pm.] Huge black fruit nose. The youngest tasting wine here tonight. Not surprising, but this needs so much more time. A decade at least. Dark, rich, but quite restrained at this point. 94-96 (94 points)
A couple of off bottles, but clearly a very strong vintage based on this dinner.
Indeed, a fantastic tasting and some truly great wines. I’ve opened precious few 2006s, though the few I have were excellent. Nice to read your notes though Ken and practice patience for a few more years with these.
Ken, still slumming it I see.
Thanks for the terrific TN’s and pictures, as always.
Sorry to hear about the Cappellano. OTOH, the Roagna is Nebbiolo heaven.
My impression on the vintage is somewhat less favorable than yours, although it’s hard to come to a firm conclusion from the sample size we had.
My conclusion from this and some other tastings is there are some very good wines in 2006, but it is not a consistently great vintage in the way that, say, 2010 appears to be right now. The '06s are massive wines with big tannins, but in some cases the flavor profiles of the wines appear to be advancing faster than the structure. The bottle of Bartolo '06 we tasted was better than most of the ones I and others in the group have had recently, but it still came across to me as near-mature flavor wise, but ideally needing a long time in the cellar for the tannins to fully soften.
Wines that I’ve tasted outside of this tasting that lead me to this conclusion include the Elio Grasso '06s, which to me seem ~mature in terms of flavor development but still very tannic.
Some of the producers have made a lot of progress since '06, I think - Vietti being one of them. The Vietti '06 seemed a lot more muddled, with some noticeable oak, than the recent vintages of Rocche.
The Roagna '06 Pira is an epic wine. I dont know how they did it. Definitely the best '06 I have had. The Rinaldi Brunate '06 is an incredible wine that wasn’t represented here. I’d be curious how the Monfortino shows, but the Conterno Francia didn’t show well IMO, at least for now (seemed like it could be promising for the long run, but hard to tell).
Interesting. My sample size of 06 over the past five years or so isn’t very wide but I’ve always really liked the vintage* and some bottles over the past year have shown nicely with some air. IMO still primary flavors and smells for the most part but finally starting to soften and open a little and show some maturation. I would put 2006 up there with the best over the past 25 years or so. Plenty of others to choose so I don’t have a favorite as I like the variations.
*Nebbiolo is my favorite red and I understand that I am more tannin tolerant than many.
Yeah, I think 2010 is by far the best recent vintage (maybe any vintage, we’ll see with time). So maybe that’s not the best comparison. But I think if you compared the performance of '06 to other good vintages like '08, '13, '16, etc. the '06s at age 18 seems more inconsistent than I hope those other vintages will be.
Part or all of my experience is likely just the winemaking improvement since '06. Clearly, the weather conditions allowed for some truly epic wines, like the Roagna Riserva Pira and the Rinaldi Brunate, and some very good wines we tasted like the '06 G. Rinaldi Cannubi.
You may have a point. I really like and probably prefer 10 a little more broadly than 06. Doesn’t feel quite as heavy and tannins a bit more refined. Love 08 and think it is kind of overlooked. Love 13 although it was a little mean until recently. But none of that takes away from 06. A lot to love! As far as winemaking goes, even going back a little to 98,99, 01, I think winemaking was pretty solid with my main gripe being many were too involved in “modern style” at that time.
How do you think they compare to the good vintages that just preceded? I recall no more hype for 2006 than for 2004 (which now seems to be an earlier maturing vintage) and less hype than the 2001 wines.
I’ve had mostly good experiences with 2004, better than 2006. I don’t think it is quite as epic as 2010 or maybe 2016, and the winemaking just wasn’t as consistently good back then, but the quality is high on average with a few epic wines. High yields were an “issue” in 2004 I think which probably held back some wines. But there’s several really epic wines from '04 - the Conterno Francia (although some bottle variation with it), Monfortino and the full Bruno Giacosa lineup. The Monprivato, when not a flawed bottle, is incredibly seductive. The Rinaldi Brunate is aging beautifully. The Grasso Gavarini is really good.
One that is not aging well - the Bartolo '04 is prematurely aging based on several personal experiences including an ex-cellar magnum and what I’ve heard from others. I think when you go down the quality spectrum of producers, there’s more variability given the yield issue.
I don’t think 2001 has aged particularly well, or at least there were enough cork / bottle / transport issues to hold them back. The great '01s I have had are the Giacosa Rocche, Asili, and Rabaja, although you hear of significant bottle variation due to corks on the Rabaja. I’ve had bottles between very good and mindblowing, so have been lucky with that one. Otherwise, I have not experienced any epic '01s. The Conterno Francia is good, but not great, and the recent notes on the Monfortino aren’t that exciting. The Bartolo is inconsistent / not a great wine from what I’ve read. The Rinaldi Brunate - I’ve only had oxidized bottles and if you read on CT, it seems like half of the bottles are oxidized.
I think the vintages that have aged best going back 20+ years are the 1999s and 2004s. I would throw the '05s in as a sleeper hit - I bet a number of '05s end up beating the '06 equivalent. The 2008s and 2010s appear to be aging well, and anything else is too young to say. 1996, 2001, maybe 2006 although I think this tasting begs for tasting a broader set of wines to come to a conclusion, and 2007, seem like disappointments relative to my understanding of initial expectations. Just my two cents. In each of these years there are epic wines, but not consistency in my experience.
I think the best vintages for Barolo after 1990 are 96, 99, 01, 04, and 10. A step behind them, but still very good are 05, 06, 08, and 13. I haven’t had enough 2016s, but I’ve read great things. 19 is very promising.
Interesting thread. Perhaps 2005 and 2008 are the most consistent vintages between 2000 and 2009? Not necessarily reaching the heights of the top 01s, 04s and 06s, but not having the bottle variation or high rate of oxidized bottles?
@Rob_M1, a 2001 Brovia Rocche was a mind blowing wine consumed in 2018 or thereabouts?
I don’t know about 2005. I’ve had mostly great bottles from '05, but that’s a sample of only the better producers. But it’s a compelling vintage. At La Festa this year, I sat with Brovia and they brought '05 and '10 Villero, and to me the '05 was fresher, more vibrant, and the better of the two wines. An outlier, but a sign of how compelling the year can be. The '05 Bartolo is probably aging the best of the 2004-2006 series IMO. The '05 Monprivato is stunning and up there with the '04 and '06. The Vajra Bricco '05 is really pretty. Lots of good wines from that year.
I would agree w/ 2008. Many great wines with incredible aromatics. I think the heights of '04 are higher, but given the extra four years of time passing, possible '08 is more consistent.
I think '01 can be great. The Giacosas are incredible, and I wouldn’t argue with someone suggesting the Giacosa '01 Rocche is better than the '04. There just seems to be too much variation across producers and individual bottles to call it a great year overall, based on my limited sample size.
