Brief notes from the Barolo tasting

Corregia Barbera d'Alba Marun 1999 We started with this as a pirate: Have only tasted Marun a few times, unfortunately, but I am always very impressed by this wine. It has a heaviness to it that is balanced by is purity. Even with 8 years to it, it was showing real well and will probably last a few more years

And then the Nebbiolo started rolling in. They where tasted in pairs with a theme.

2003 Barolos
Ceretto, Brunate 2003 Have to admit that the 2003 vintage is not one of my favorites, but the Ceretto was a pleasant surprise to all. I found it to have a subdued, cool nose with some nice plum and tobacco notes. In the mouth is was very elegant with lots of dark fruit. A very stylish Barolo and one of the 2003s that is really recommendable.
Elio Altate 2003 (normale) Altare was more clumsy and with a dark, heavy sweetness to it. The alcohol was all in front and the wine was not very balanced. (Not sure if this was an off bottle, but it really did'nt show well).

Modern vs. traditional Barolo
Giuseppe e Figlio Mascarello, Monprivato 2000 Light colour. A funky nose with peaches?...and red berries, but clearly an off bottle. (A backup bottle was corked.... )
Paolo Scavino, Bric del Fiasc 2000 Very nice heavy, dark fruit on the nose. Taste was in perfect balance and it was really a pleasure to drink.

Modern producer, two different vineyards (my first Pira's)
Luigi Pira, Marenca 2001 Heavy fruit and burnt rubber. The taste had nice black fruit, leather and a flowery aftertaste.
Luigi Pira, Rionda 2001 A weird nose with burnt rubber. Again?…the taste was quite different: It had bright red fruit, redcurrant, alcohol and iron. 4.

Traditional producer, two different vineyards My first Cappellano’s (except for the Barolo Chinato)
Cappellano Pie Rupestris 2001 A little light on the nose. It is a bit closed and doesn’t give much in the taste.(2nd day the wine was more open a more similar to its sibling)
Cappellano Pio Franco 2001 Great, great traditional stuff. Not big and bold, but just very elegant and soft with coffee, leather - Just a real pleasurable wine5.

Two big boys from 2001
Aldo Conterno, Granbussia 2001 A bit more closed, than when I had this in May. But still it was quite open for a 2001. Nice cherry note in the nose. Very approachable in the beginning, but after an hour it tightened up.
Bruno Giacosa, Le Rocche del Falletto di Serralunga Riserva 2001 This is huge. It’s like a brooding giant and it almost scared me. At first (we tasted it blind against the Granbussia) I had them confused, but the grafite, iron tones was in front after about 2 minutes in the glass. This is really a great wine, that just is 15-20 years to young. *

Two old guys
Azienda Ceretto, Barolo Vigneto Pittatore Cannubi 1971 Ahhh....well, its a goner...hoped it would behave (good vintage and all) but it was just not good
Giuseppe Mascarello e Figlio, Monprivato 1976 From a less than average vintage, the Monprivato actually is still holding on. Brick coloured and light. Classic nose of tag and violets. Not huge and bold, but very elegant. The finish is a bit tannic and it dries out.

Not my greatest old Barolo (but well, thats compared to Giacosa 1967, Marchesi di Barolo 1947/1949, so its hard competition..)

All in all a fun tasting (or really just a get-together). It was really interesting to have all the differents styles of Baroli.