Bruno Giacosa and Giacomo Conterno at Della Notte

Della Notte [Closed]

810 Eastern Avenue

Baltimore, MD 21202

tel. (410) 837-5500

January 2007

There are few things I look forward to more than a meeting of my tasting group. In January we gathered at Della Notte, located in downtown Baltimore. Any one of these wines we had could easily have been the centerpiece of an unforgettable evening. Needless to say were incredibly fortunate to drink so many towering Barolos and Barbarescos at one dinner. The menu Della Notte prepared for us was delicious and worked beautifully with the wines. We enjoyed a roasted vegetable platter followed by pappardelle with rabbit sauce, which is one the restaurant’s best dishes. The main courses were Osso Buco and braised lamb shank.

We started with a flight of Bruno Giacosa’s mythical Barbaresco Santo Stefano Riserva that covered the great 1982, 1985, 1989 and 1990 vintages. Giacosa’s 1982 Barbaresco Santo Stefano Riserva is always a wine I look forward to as it is among my all-time favorites from this legendary producer. I was amazed at the color of the 1982 as it was poured from the decanter. A deeply colored red, it looked more like a wine from a recent vintage rather than a wine that is 25 years old. It boasted huge aromatics and a powerful personality, with enough fruit, length on the palate and underlying structure to drink well for at least another decade. 1982 remains a phenomenal vintage for this wine and a benchmark for first-class Barbaresco. The 1985 Barbaresco Santo Stefano Riserva was not as monumental or fresh as it can be. This bottle showed a slightly faded color and mostly resolved tannins along with ethereal notes of prunes, dried figs and spice cake. Still, it provided much pleasure. With the 1989 Barbaresco Santo Stefano Riserva we returned to another massively-proportioned Barbaresco. Fresh, vibrant and powerful, with endless layers of flavor, it is another stunning wine from Bruno Giacosa that is sure to provide much pleasure for years to come. Our first grouping closed with the 1990 Barbaresco Santo Stefano Riserva, which I can only describe as pure magic in a glass. Expressive in its aromatics and generous on the palate, it was extraordinary in its overall balance and poise, with a characteristic note of sweetness that lingered on the finish. On most occasions when I’ve had them together I’ve had a preference for the 1982 but on this night the 1990 was utterly seductive.

1978 is one of the all-time legendary Barolo vintages. An irregular flowering resulted in the plants carrying very little fruit that year. The grapes were thick-skinned and yielded massively tannic wines, many of which are still quite youthful today. It was also a defining vintage for Bruno Giacosa, who released a number of extraordinary wines, three of which we tasted. This bottle of the 1978 Barolo Rocche di Castiglione was the finest I have ever had. Many tasters actually preferred it to the Red Label Riservas from the same vintage that followed, perhaps because it is the closest of these 1978 Barolos to being ready to drink. It showed the open, generous aromatics that are typical of the Rocche vineyard along with beautifully delineated layers of fruit that provided much enjoyment. The Rocche di Castiglione has always been the most accessible of Giacosa’s 1978 Barolos and we were fortunate to catch it at a glorious peak of its expression. It was simply breathtaking. Our bottle of the 1978 Barolo Villero Riserva was the only letdown of the evening. On its own it would have probably been outstanding, but we had recently enjoyed a perfect bottle, so we had an admittedly lofty standard. Our disappointment was quickly forgotten when we moved on to the 1978 Barolo Collina Rionda Riserva. Structured and powerful, it presented masses of fruit and was incredibly nuanced for such a big, primary wine, easily living up to the 99 points I scored it about a year ago. It remains an infant. Well-stored bottles have another two decades of life ahead. Not knowing exactly where to place it, the 1989 Barolo Collina Rionda Riserva was next. Mere words can’t do this wine justice. It showed a perfect balance between its fruit and its structural components, with stunning detail, great length, and fine tannins. I can’t ask for anything more from a wine, except for another bottle, which is exactly what we had. The second bottle was perhaps even better than the first, but they were both perfect. I have always had a fondness for the 1989 Collina Rionda Riserva as it is the wine that taught me to appreciate the genius of Bruno Giacosa. Ironically, I had been among those who did not think this wine had a place in the evening’s lineup. Thankfully someone had the good sense to ignore my suggestion that we save this wine for another occasion. If I could only have one wine from Bruno Giacosa it would be the majestic 1989 Collina Rionda Riserva.

Giacomo Conterno’s 1961 Barolo Riserva Monfortino was an unexpected last minute surprise. Stylistically it belongs to an earlier period in the winery’s history when the wines were made from purchased fruit as opposed to the Conterno Barolos that followed, all of which were produced from the estate’s Cascina Francia vineyard in Serralunga. The 1961 was superbly elegant and delicate, with a lovely core of soft, ethereal fruit, fully resolved, fine tannins and an eternal finish. It struck me as very slightly passed its prime. It would have probably been better appreciated if served alongside wines of a similar age, or even better, simply enjoyed on its own. Nevertheless, it was a magical, completely unforgettable bottle.

One of the qualities of truly profound wines is the seamlessness they present, from the nose to the palate and carrying through to the finish, a characteristic the 1978 Barolo Riserva Monfortino has in spades. There was really no need to actually taste the 1978 Monfortino, its aromatics alone were spellbinding. On the palate it offered layer after layer of flavor, with stunning length and a finish that seemed to last forever. If I could only have one Monfortino the 1978 would be it. The 1982 Barolo Riserva Monfortino has also typically been one of my all-time favorites from Giacomo Conterno but it wasn’t especially expressive on this night. The competition was pretty stiff, however, and the 1982 remains an awesome, youthful and structured Monfortino that will offer much pleasure to those who are fortunate enough to own it. Well-stored bottles such as this one come across as needing further cellaring. Perhaps the 1982 suffered by being placed next to the decidedly opulent 1985 Barolo Riserva Monfortino, which was simply breathtaking in its juxtaposition of fresh, vibrant flavors and the ripeness of the warm vintage. What I love most about Monfortino is how it engages all the senses, from the intellectual to the purely sensual, and 1985 is a vintage that captures all of those qualities to the fullest. It was without question the most pleasurable wine of this flight. At a mere 17 years of age, the 1990 Barolo Riserva Monfortino came across as a baby. On its own it has almost always been phenomenal, and I am confident in time it too will offer the level of pleasure of the other vintages in this flight. For now the 1990 Monfortino is all about potential. Readers who want to experience the full range that this wine has to offer might want to hold off for a while, as impossibly hard as that may be.

After dinner, a group of us reflected on how phenomenal the wines had been. A second bottle of the 1985 Conterno Barolo Riserva Monfortino was perhaps even more seductive and captivating than the first. Bruno Giacosa’s 1985 Barolo Collina Rionda was more delicate, but it too captured the essence of the vintage in its sweet, open aromatics and soft core of generous fruit, showing outstanding length, fine tannins and a gorgeous, lingering finish. While both of these two 1985s have enough freshness to last at least another decade I can’t imagine they are likely to ever deliver much more pleasure than they did on this evening.

Food:

Roasted vegetables

Pappardelle with rabbit sauce

Osso Buco

Braised lamb shank

Wine:

1982	Bruno Giacosa Barbaresco Santo Stefano Riserva	97
1985	Bruno Giacosa Barbaresco Santo Stefano Riserva	94
1989	Bruno Giacosa Barbaresco Santo Stefano Riserva	96
1990	Bruno Giacosa Barbaresco Santo Stefano Riserva	97
1978	Bruno Giacosa Barolo Rocche di Castiglione	96
1978	Bruno Giacosa Barolo Villero Riserva	91+?
1978	Bruno Giacosa Barolo Collina Rionda Riserva	99
1989	Bruno Giacosa Barolo Collina Rionda Riserva	100
1961	Giacomo Conterno Barolo Riserva Monfortino	94
1978	Giacomo Conterno Barolo Riserva Monfortino	100
1982	Giacomo Conterno Barolo Riserva Monfortino	98
1985	Giacomo Conterno Barolo Riserva Monfortino	97
1990	Giacomo Conterno Barolo Riserva Monfortino	97
1985	Bruno Giacosa Barolo Collina Rionda	96

--Antonio Galloni