The afternoon seminar at La Festa del Barolo featured 14 of my favorite 2008 Barolos, plus one 2007. I chose the wines to represent the entire spectrum of Barolo, from traditional to modern. As opposed to more common walk-around tastings, which encourage people to seek out producers they already know and/or the most famous wines in the room, at La Festa the wines are presented in an educational, sit-down format in which attendees taste all the wines. Our goal is to introduce Barolo lovers to wines that may not be familiar with.
In tastings like these, I also try to mix things up a bit. One of the biggest urban myths is that comparative tastings favor bigger wines, or, put another way, that delicate wines can't be appreciated after richer, more powerful wines. Specifically to prove my point, I placed two of the lighter wines in this tasting, the 2008 Vajra Bricco delle Viole and the 2008 Cogno Bricco Pernice, after Roberto Voerzio's 2008 Barolo Cerequio. Think the Vajra and Cogno weren't appreciated by the room? Not a chance.
When people say that concentrated wines overpower delicate wines in a tasting, what they are really expressing is a given taster (or tasters') preference. The conventional approach to ordering wines is lightest to richest, but I find that totally boring because it actually de emphasizes the differences among wines. It's like driving a car. If you go from 0 to 60 in a few seconds, you probably won't notice any particular point in the acceleration curve; but, if you go suddenly from 60 to 30 you will definitely feel the change. And that is exactly what happened in this tasting.
With one exception, I thought all of the 2008s showed well. I would be hard pressed to pick a favorite, as each wine seemed to show a different facet of a vintage that continues to develop beautifully in bottle. The best 2008s have an inner sweetness and perfume that is reminiscent of the top 1989s. One of the more special wines in this tasting was Enrico Scavino's 30th Anniversary Bric del Fiasc Riserva (pictured), a Barolo that has not yet been released. It was fabulous. And the retro label is a great touch. The only wine I wasn't totally thrilled about was Aldo Conterno's 2008 Barolo Romirasco, where there seemed to be an element of bottle variation in the room.
This is the complete lineup:
E. Pira 2008 Barolo Cannubi
Borgogno 2008 Barolo Cannubi
Luciano Sandrone 2008 Barolo Cannubi Boschis
Roberto Voerzio 2008 Barolo Cerequio
Elvio Cogno 2008 Barolo Bricco Pernice
G.D. Vajra 2008 Barolo Bricco delle Viole
Vietti 2008 Barolo Rocche
Paolo Scavino 2008 Barolo Riserva Bric del Fiasc
Conterno-Fantino 2008 Barolo Ginestra
Elio Grasso 2008 Barolo Ginestra Vigna Casa Mate
Poderi Aldo Conterno 2008 Barolo Romirasco
Pio Cesare 2008 Barolo Ornato
Giacomo Conterno 2008 Barolo Cascina Francia
Brovia 2008 Barolo Ca' Mia
Cavallotto 2007 Barolo Riserva Bricco Boschis Vigna San Giuseppe
In tastings like these, I also try to mix things up a bit. One of the biggest urban myths is that comparative tastings favor bigger wines, or, put another way, that delicate wines can't be appreciated after richer, more powerful wines. Specifically to prove my point, I placed two of the lighter wines in this tasting, the 2008 Vajra Bricco delle Viole and the 2008 Cogno Bricco Pernice, after Roberto Voerzio's 2008 Barolo Cerequio. Think the Vajra and Cogno weren't appreciated by the room? Not a chance.
When people say that concentrated wines overpower delicate wines in a tasting, what they are really expressing is a given taster (or tasters') preference. The conventional approach to ordering wines is lightest to richest, but I find that totally boring because it actually de emphasizes the differences among wines. It's like driving a car. If you go from 0 to 60 in a few seconds, you probably won't notice any particular point in the acceleration curve; but, if you go suddenly from 60 to 30 you will definitely feel the change. And that is exactly what happened in this tasting.
With one exception, I thought all of the 2008s showed well. I would be hard pressed to pick a favorite, as each wine seemed to show a different facet of a vintage that continues to develop beautifully in bottle. The best 2008s have an inner sweetness and perfume that is reminiscent of the top 1989s. One of the more special wines in this tasting was Enrico Scavino's 30th Anniversary Bric del Fiasc Riserva (pictured), a Barolo that has not yet been released. It was fabulous. And the retro label is a great touch. The only wine I wasn't totally thrilled about was Aldo Conterno's 2008 Barolo Romirasco, where there seemed to be an element of bottle variation in the room.
This is the complete lineup:
E. Pira 2008 Barolo Cannubi
Borgogno 2008 Barolo Cannubi
Luciano Sandrone 2008 Barolo Cannubi Boschis
Roberto Voerzio 2008 Barolo Cerequio
Elvio Cogno 2008 Barolo Bricco Pernice
G.D. Vajra 2008 Barolo Bricco delle Viole
Vietti 2008 Barolo Rocche
Paolo Scavino 2008 Barolo Riserva Bric del Fiasc
Conterno-Fantino 2008 Barolo Ginestra
Elio Grasso 2008 Barolo Ginestra Vigna Casa Mate
Poderi Aldo Conterno 2008 Barolo Romirasco
Pio Cesare 2008 Barolo Ornato
Giacomo Conterno 2008 Barolo Cascina Francia
Brovia 2008 Barolo Ca' Mia
Cavallotto 2007 Barolo Riserva Bricco Boschis Vigna San Giuseppe
