Bruno Besa BB | Andrew JeffordAJ | Michael Palij MW MP
Gian Luca Colombo Barolo Montforte d’Alba (14.5% ABV)
| 88
BB | Garnet to tawny. A closed, farmyard nose, with prunes, tobacco, and leather. Better on the palate, with sweet fruit and a long, herbal finished. | 91 AJ | Clear dark red. Quite a dry aromatic style— warm grass, tea leaves, dry autumn copse—but attractive. Mellow, rich, soft, and full on the palate. The tannins again just trend toward dryness, but this is languid and long, and the fruits themselves are actually fleshy. Concentrated, dense, and allusive. Quite a good wine (but the other tasters will have marked on TCA-tainted bottle one). | 89 MP | Curious nose, with swimming-pool notes and meager fruit. Nothing here to admire or revere. | 83
Giovanni Corino Barolo Bricco Manescotto La Morra (15% ABV)
| 88
BB | Garnet to pink. Closed, if refined, steely, red- fruits nose, with roses and violets and an intense herbal character. Medium to full body, exuberant, layered red and black fruits, salty, long, clean. | 93 AJ | Dark, clear black-red. Curranty fruits in relatively simple style; brisk and attractive, but few aromatic layers here. Fruit-first on the palate, too, and the fruits are just a little sinewy and linear. Ample tannins. No particular charm or enchantment, but satisfying and long. | 87 MP | Red fruit, including cranberry and currant, alongside blackberry, vanilla, clove, and sawdust. The VA is very high, as is the alcohol and oak. Disjointed and devoid of any real fruit, with the winemaking taking over from the vineyard. | 84
Pecchenino Barolo Le Coste di Monforte Monforte d’Alba (14.5% ABV)
| 88
BB | Garnet to tawny. Ripe prune, smoke, road-tar, and leather nose. Medium body, slightly green tannins, with a simplistic mid-palate and finish. | 88 AJ | Clear and bright. Slightly edgy fruits dominate the aromas. Lacks the expansiveness of the best of its peers in this vintage. Concentrated but a little bit dry and taut for this vintage, which at best is always gentle and expansive. Dense, though, and long, too. Serious wine, with fine-quality raw ingredients. | 89 MP | This has a great depth of fruit but is obvious and very ripe, with cassis, damson, mulberry, cooked plum, and licorice. The palate shows the overripe nature of so many 2018s, and there is insufficient depth to warrant future aging. | 88
Damilano Barolo Lecinquevigne Blend (14.5% ABV)
| 87
BB | Tawny to pink. Clean, floral, ripe, small red fruits, violets and rose-water nose. Medium body, slightly watery, and a challenging, bitter finish. | 86 AJ | Clear, translucent red. Soft-contoured, glowing pulse of fruits, fresh yet sweet-edged: very attractive. Chocolate and spice beneath. Softly stated yet complex. Deep, firm, sinewy, long, with the emphasis on aquiline fruits; pure and driving. More acid- than tannin-structured; some bright, bitter notes. The palate in this instance is a little less lovely than the aromatic spectrum, but this is a concentrated, incisive, food-friendly wine. | 89 MP | Very ripe, almost jammy red fruit with plum, morello cherry, mulberry, and even cooked fruit
and baking spice. The palate is warming, driven by the alcohol but also by the ripe fruit. It lacks incisiveness, the chiseled edge that Nebbiolo needs, and reflects the hot summer. Drink now. | 85
Cascina Gramolere Barolo Monforte d’Alba (ABV N/A)
| 87
BB | Garnet to tawny. Ripe, herbal, prune, and smoke nose, with an animal, earthy character. Overripe, jammy fruit, with a rustic finish. | 84 AJ | Dark, dense but translucent black-red. A little dry and raisiny here, with some licorice spice. Striking though less subtle than the best of its peers. Rather crass oak. Ditto on the palate, alas. Despite its admirable concentration and wealth of flavor, I would find this hard to enjoy, and it seems both slightly overextracted and overoaked. Very good wine beneath, for all that. | 87 MP | Gamey, fresh, wild, obvious, rich, powerful, notes of oregano, black plum, sage, comfrey, hibiscus, red and black fruit. On the palate, this is very obvious, rich, and complex, although structurally it lacks the high notes. | 90
Ascheri Barolo Blend (14.5% ABV) | 86
BB | Garnet to tawny. Complex, mineral, chalk, and earth nose, tar, black-and-red-fruits nose. Medium body, green tannins, simple red-fruit finish. | 84 AJ | Clear, bright garnet red. Very sweet fruits, almost jammy but saved by a little inner freshness. With air in the glass, the wine grows creamier, and the sense of sweetness dissipates. Lively and fresh on the palate, with no sense of overripeness or exaggerated sweetness. Shapely, fresh acidity and soft tannins. Great grace and charm here. | 90 MP | Complexity on the nose, with blackberry, bramble, stewed plum, baking spice, black cherry, and coffee. On the palate, this shows a ripe and unschooled palate with plenty of jammy fruit, and alcohol, but the tannins are melding, and the acidity seems to be AWOL. Drink now. | 85
Diego e Damiano Barale Barolo Blend (14.5% ABV)
| 86
BB | Garnet to tawny. Complex, ripe, earthy, petrol nose, with tobacco, forest undergrowth, and truffles. Medium body, fairly balanced, with slightly green tannins and finish. | 88 AJ | Classic, clear, light garnet. Ample warm fruits; an animal note, too, though not disfiguring. That’s exactly what you find on the palate: ample and exuberant, though aromatically less sure-handed than the best of its peers. | 87 MP | Curious nose, with notes of Bovril, vanilla, coffee, chocolate, and caramel. The new oak adds an unwelcome layer of wood tannins that occlude the fruit and contribute to an astringent finish. | 84
Borgogno Barolo Fossati Barolo (14% ABV)
| 86
BB | Pale garnet to tawny. Open, clean, orange- marmalade, ripe-plum nose. Medium body, ripe, soft palate, moderate finish. | 87 AJ | Bright, clear garnet. A decided throb of warmth here, without a lot of pristine fruit. Attractive now but perhaps not a wine to shove in the cellar for a decade or two. A touch of kerosene. Ditto on the palate. Lots of work to do here. | 82
MP | This is the first truly “Burgundian” nose in this flight, with rhubarb, cranberry, strawberry, and beetroot. The palate could be Chambolle or Gevrey, with a pronounced red-fruit, earthy character. The similarities with Pinot have not produced a better Barolo, however, and this shows a modest weight of fruit allied to ripe tannins and juicy acidity. Lacks concentration, with a pleasant if simple finish. | 89
Cavallotto Barolo Bricco Boschis Castiglione Falletto (14% ABV)
| 86
BB | Garnet to pink. Rustic, oak-driven nose, with black fruits. Challenging palate, bitter finish. | 83 AJ | Deeper and darker than its peers: solid garnet red. Warm, fresh, glowing, and enticing, though not huge aromatic definition here. Slightly gruff/animal fruits, almost reduced. Vivid, full, salty; very firm, shaping tannins, but restraint in terms of fruit. Lots of dry residue to grab hold of and enjoy—and in this fruit-filled wine world, that’s rare. | 88 MP | Obvious, gamey, fat, savory, overripe, and richly aromatic, with notes of toast, gravy, tobacco, blackberry jam, oregano, and black pepper. The palate is excessively tannic, with a dusty, drying finish that seems to have managed to miss all the fruit that appeared on the nose. Drink now. | 87
Borgogno Barolo Liste Barolo (14.5% ABV)
| 85
BB | Garnet to tawny. Open, slightly decadent, tobacco-leaf, cedarwood nose. Medium body; slightly green tannins and red fruit on the finish. | 87 AJ | Pale, clear, light, and translucent, with less garnet red and less depth than many of its Barolo peers. Initially dry and grassy on the nose, with rather sinewy fruits—but there is an attractive pool of wild mushroom forest warmth behind that unfolds in the glass with air. Bright, graceful, fresh, lively, with a lot more energy and contour to the fruit than the nose in fact suggested. Generous and exuberant wine, eventually dry-finishing, but it curves right around through a big deep arc of generous fruit along the way. Some bay-leaf complexities, too. Lots to like. | 91 MP | Bizarre nose—fish oil and charcuterie, with a whiff of Islay whisky. Difficult to see where this is going. Finish is short and one-dimensional. | 78
Rocche dei Manzoni Barolo Perno Monforte d’Alba (14% ABV)
| 84
BB | Garnet to tawny. Ripe and a touch jammy on the nose, with black and red fruits and an earthy, smoke character. Overripe on the palate, but with green tannins and a challenging finish. | 84 AJ | Dark, deep black-red. A very striking aroma of cherryade or strongly perfumed confectionary; ample vanilla undertow. Oil of lemon? Menthol notes? Garden rue? Not faulty, but a long way from the subtlety and suggestiveness of the best. A very tannic palate, with the aromatic issues outlined above. Is this whole-bunch, by any chance? | 84 MP | Ripe, rich, hedonistic, consistently rich and opulent, with absolutely no chance of developing any further. This is obvious and confected. | 83
The following wines were deemed faulty and not scored: Azienda Agricola E Pira e Figli Chiara Boschis Barolo Via Nuova Blend (TCA); Francesco Rinaldi Barolo Cannubi Barolo.
THE WORLD OF FINE WINE | ISSUE 79 | 2023 | 209
2018 BAROLO
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