1986&nbsp;Giuseppe Rinaldi Barolo delle&nbsp;Brunate Riserva Speciale

Sometimes the best things are born from total spontaneity.
One lazy summer Sunday&nbsp;Marzia and I find ourselves with a free afternoon, so we call Beppe Rinaldi and ask if he has time to see us. It turns out
the ladies of the house are away for the weekend, so Rinaldi has plenty of time,
not to mention a little more freedom that normal, something he gleefully points
out on more than one occasion.

<a target="_blank" href="http://vinousmedia.com/multimedia/the-vineyards-of-barolo-brunate-sep-2014"><img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1425317220919-B+Rinaldi+video+shot.png"></a><a target="_blank" href="http://vinousmedia.com/multimedia/the-vineyards-of-barolo-brunate-sep-2014">Giuseppe Rinaldi in his cellar discussing the history of&nbsp;</a><a target="_blank" href="http://vinousmedia.com/multimedia/the-vineyards-of-barolo-brunate-sep-2014">Brunate</a>Rinaldi receives us in his office. Papers are stacked on top
of papers. I sense a resemblance to my own desk. The bookshelves are packed
with books on the history of the Langhe and Barolo, most of them sadly out of
print. Rinaldi isn’t just a staunch defender of tradition with his wines, he
also knows more about the history of the Langhe and Barolo than just about
anyone else I have ever met. “Would you like some water?” asks Rinaldi. “Watch
out, in Barolo the drinking water has 2% alcohol,” he says, with the gruff,&nbsp;wicked laugh visitors to this reference-point estate have become accustomed to over the years. &nbsp;<img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1425316177367-Moto.jpg">One of Beppe Rinaldi’s many vintage motorcyclesA tour of the upstairs living quarters, including the room
where Rinaldi himself was born, brings back memories of my grandparents’ home
in Sicily. The smell of the antique furniture is exactly the same. It is
amazing to think how much the world has changed in just one or two generations. An assortment of rare vintage&nbsp;motorcycles, all in various states of repair, crowds the workshop. Rinaldi’s passion for motorcycles
is the stuff of legend. A few years ago, on his one and only trip to New York,
Rinaldi apparently chose to see the city from the vantage point of a Vespa.
That must have been interesting.

&nbsp;<img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1425316196576-RinaldiCellar.jpg">

The Rinaldi cellar,
Barolo

Down in the cellar, we&nbsp;taste through most&nbsp;of the botti one by one. It is always fascinating to follow these Barolos throughout their time in cask, as they reveal myriad shades of expression with the passage of time, especially in the great vintages. Other than the addition of a few new&nbsp;botti, nothing much has changed here over the years, including the constant&nbsp;stream of colorful
comments unsuitable for printing that Rinaldi sprinkles between wines.&nbsp;“Would you like to taste an older Barolo,” Rinaldi asks as we see descend into his newly built personal cellar. Are you kidding? In all of the years I have been visiting the estate, this is
the first time Rinaldi has offered to open an older bottle from his personal
collection. “Go ahead,” Rinaldi continues, “pick any vintage you want.” How can
I choose? There are quite a few vintages that are tempting, but I want to be
respectful. “It’s OK,” says Rinaldi, perhaps sensing my apprehension. “I would
rather open these wines with you than have my daughters drink them with their
boyfriends,” he says, with a totally deadpan delivery. I am a little reassured
as I struggle to find a vintage in which there are more than a few bottles
remaining.

&nbsp;<img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1425316215307-1986RinaldiBaroloBrunatev2.jpg">

Rinaldi sometimes uses
this alternate label with the scarab for wines sold in Europe

“How about the 1986?” I suggest. “Ah, 1986, all right,” says
Rinaldi. “That is a fabulous vintage. You know everything about Barolo.” Not
really.&nbsp;

I have always adored 1986, perhaps because it is one of the
truly overlooked, insiders’ vintages from a time before the internet and technology
ruled our lives. During the mid and late 1980s, much of the rage was over the
1985s. But I have always been intrigued by the 1986s. That year a violent
hailstorm in the spring wiped out most of the crop. But the few wines that were
made have long been magical. In fact, both Bruno Giacosa and Bartolo Mascarello
told me they preferred their 1986s to their 1985s. Today, that kind of
information would quickly get out, but back then, some secrets could still be kept.<img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1425316248660-Leica.jpg"> 

Rinaldi’s 1930s Leica
camera

Rinaldi nods. “I remember that vintage because my dad called
me home to take photos after a massive hailstorm. The vineyards were completely white
and blanketed with hail. I had never seen anything like it. Hail is extremely
rare in May. Fortunately the second shoots gave us a crop and we were ultimately
able to make some wine. Anyway, my father gave me an old Leica to take the
photos. It was a beautiful, vintage camera from the 1930s that I recently had
refurbished.”

“A few&nbsp;years later we were cleaning through some things in
the house, and I noticed there were no photos of me when I was a child. I found
that odd. My father had this beautiful, high-end camera and no photos of the
family. So I asked him why. He explained that when he was a General in the Italian
military part of his job was to document the atrocities he saw during World
War II. God only knows what that Leica photographed. After that experience, my
father never touched a camera again.”

<img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1425316224243-Leica2.jpg"> If this camera could
tell stories…

And the 1986 Barolo
delle Brunate Riserva Speciale? It is gorgeous, a bit rustic and rough
around the edges, as wines from this vintage tend to be, but with more than
enough depth to drink well for another decade or so. 90/Drinking window: 2015-2025.<img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1448047743111-Rinaldi+1986+-+Copy.jpg"> The&nbsp;1986 Barolo delle Brunate Riserva Speciale&nbsp;with the&nbsp;more familiar&nbsp;Rinaldi labelYou Might Also Enjoy Multimedia:&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="http://vinousmedia.com/multimedia/the-vineyards-of-barolo-brunate-sep-2014">The Vineyards of Barolo – Brunate</a>&nbsp;Multimedia:&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="http://vinousmedia.com/multimedia/the-vineyards-of-barolo-cannubi-oct-2014">The Vineyards of Barolo – Cannubi</a> Multimedia:&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="http://vinousmedia.com/multimedia/the-vineyards-of-barolo-ravera-barolo-nov-2014">The Vineyards of Barolo – Ravera</a> Reviews: <a target="_blank" href="http://vinousmedia.com/wines?q=giuseppe+rinaldi&amp;search-filter=reviews&amp;sort%5Bdirection%5D=desc&amp;sort%5Bname%5D=vintage&amp;utf8=%E2%9C%93&amp;wf_dirty=false&amp;wf_export_fields=&amp;wf_export_format=&amp;wf_id=&amp;wf_match=all&amp;wf_model=Wine&amp;wf_name=&amp;wf_order=vintage&amp;wf_order_type=desc&amp;wf_page=1&amp;wf_per_page=25&amp;wf_submitted=true&amp;wf_type=WillFilter%3A%3AFilter&amp;wine_filter%5Bauthor%5D=&amp;wine_filter%5Bcolor%5D=&amp;wine_filter%5Bcountry%5D=&amp;wine_filter%5Bregion_1%5D=&amp;wine_filter%5Bregion_2%5D=">See All&nbsp;Giuseppe Rinaldi&nbsp;Reviews</a>

-- Antonio Galloni

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