Castell`n Villa 1977 & 1985

Vinmøte Roar 26.9.13

Barolo 1970, Giacomo Conterno

Lys transparent farge med nype og gul frukt. Vanskelig vin å vurdere. Sur søt te med tørket frukt. Ikke en optimal flaske. 80 poeng.

Vi hadde denne også på forrige vinmøte hos Kim:

Metallisk, for mye buljong, uklar og dårlig flaske. Syrlig og uharmonisk. Lever i skyggen av etterfølgende år 1971. Den første Barolo med Cascina Francia på etiketten fra Giacomo Conterno var 1979. 80 poeng

Chianti Classico Riserva 1977, Castell`in Villa

Moden nese med vandig kant. Kjølig pen frukt, men litt tynn i munnen.Tydelig utviklet, men fremdeles god frukt etter så mange år, men viser svakhetstegn nå med noen tørkede elementer. Drikk opp ? 88 poeng

Chianti Classico Riserva 1985, Castell`in Villa

Mørk vin med mokkabønner og rik frukt. I et helt annet format enn 1977. Stor vin som viser en imponerende frukt fremdeles med et livlig preg, faste og markante tanniner som gir vinen en imponerende munnfølelse. Vinen har ennå mange år foran seg og den har nok fremdeles ikke nådd toppen. 92 poeng.

Barbaresco Asili 1979, Ceretto

Lys nebbiolo, sommerblomster, mye brettomyces som overdøver nebbetypisiteten. Pen rødbærsfrukt med noe sjokolade. Deilig, harmonisk og bløt vin. Stor kompleksitet både på nesa og munnen, flott aromaspenn, tanninene har trukket seg tilbake og frukten spiller ennå en dominende rolle til tross for sin alder. 92 poeng

Barolo Collina Rionda 1993, Bruno Giacosa

Jordbær, krydderbunn og full harmoni. Fokusert, floral nese og fremdeles med tydelige tanniner. Elegant munnfølelse med ennå livlig frukt og god friskhet. 93 poeng.

For many, a Giacosa red label riserva Barolo or Barbaresco is the equal of any red wine made in the world. Made only a few times a decade, his red labels are not only fantastically complex, rich, powerful wines capable of decades of development; they are also endowed with that rare and magical sense of extra dimension found only in the greatest wines.

So high are Bruno Giacosa's standards that, over the decades, he has deemed relatively few wines worthy of wearing the red label. As a consequence, his more typical white label releases often offer such soaring quality that we find ourselves asking why they aren't red labels. In such cases, the difference in quality may be known only to Giacosa himself.

Giacosa is nearly as famous for his modesty as he is for the surreal character of his wines. As his legend has grown over time, many writers have made the pilgrimage to the Giacosa cantina in Neive eager to learn the details behind his wines, only to receive the simple response that he is a traditionalist. Giacosa has always preferred to let his wines do the talking. "Winemaking involves a great many small decisions, each affecting the next. One can only hope to get them right, to capture what there was in the grapes to begin with" is what he told Gerald Asher in the early '90s; this was about as far as he would go at the time in articulating his methods.

Giacosa has been somewhat more detailed in describing his approach in recent years, yet what he reveals is not substantially different from what other producers do. The key elements in his work are a two- to three-week fermentation in stainless steel at moderate temperatures followed by three to four years aging in French oak botti. Surely, as with an Henri Jayer or Gerard Chave the answer to what makes a Bruno Giacosa wine so extraordinary is contained within the man himself.

A Life in Wine

Born in Neive in 1929, Bruno has spent virtually his entire life in wine, beginning to work in the cellar with his father Mario and grandfather Carlo at the age of thirteen and  becoming fully employed in the family business two years later. Bruno therefore learned how to make great Barolo and Barbaresco—and fine Barbera and Dolcetto as well—from his father and grandfather, rather than in enology school. He learned important lessons from them, not the least of which was how to select fruit. This particular talent has always been of paramount importance to him, but never more so than in the early days, as he didn't buy his first vineyard until 1982.

Historically, the most famous Giacosa cru bottling has been his extraordinary Barbaresco "Santo Stefano di Neive," first made in 1964 from grapes purchased from the vineyard's sole owner, the Castello di Neive. The commune of Neive's soils have a high proportion of clay and produce powerful and structured Barbaresco; Giacosa's Santo Stefano—whether a white label normale or a riserva from a great year—is the quintessential Neive Barbaresco.

From the late 1960s until the early 1990s, Giacosa made several other excellent cru Barbarescos from purchased fruit: Montefico, Rio Sordo, Albesani, San Cristoforo and Asili.But only one of these bottlings, Asili, was ever considered deserving of a red label; it enjoyed that distinction just three times, in 1967, 1990 and 2007.

With the rise, however, of estate-bottling in the 1990s—and thus facing the loss of his traditional grape sources—Giacosa decided to purchase his own vineyards in Barbaresco, choosing what are arguably the two finestcrus of all, Asili and Rabajà. As would be expected, the Giacosa wines from these sites have been profound, whether red or white label, and have added immeasurably to the Giacosa legend. Today, the only cruBarbaresco he makes from purchased fruit is Gallina, which he has made since 1978.

As in Barbaresco, Giacosa bottled a stunning series of Barolos from purchased fruit in the 1960s and 1970s, including wines from Rocche di Castiglione Falletto, Villero, Ginestra, Pugnane, Bussia and Collina Rionda. But then in 1982 he acquired the majestic Falletto di Serralunga d'Alba vineyard, and it became the source of his greatest Barolos—rivaled only by the heroic Collina Rionda red and white label Barolos he made between 1967 and 1993. The wines are divided into two bottlings: "Falletto" (so far always white label) and "Rocche del Falletto," which can be red or white label and comes from four south-facing parcels on the vineyard's upper slope.

The Future of a Legend

Though Bruno Giacosa is in his eighties now, he remains at the helm of his legendary firm, after a period of upheaval surrounding his illness in 2006. Giacosa devotees breathed a sigh of relief with the news that the great man's longtime enologist and protegé, Dante Scaglione, returned to his side after departing in 2008. Today, one thing is certain, Bruno Giacosa's mythic status is the result of a stable of Nebbiolo masterpieces that stand alone as perhaps the greatest of all Piemontese wines.