An Unforgettable Winter Dinner: Barolo 1958 – 1998

For our January meeting my local tasting group gathered to survey the wines of Francesco Rinaldi and Luciano Sandrone, two producers who represent different schools of thought when it comes to Barolo.  By the time the evening was over however, we had also opened terrific bottles from Bruno Giacosa, Bartolo Mascarello, and Giacomo Conterno.  Not a bad way to spend a cold winter evening.  On this night I was fortunate to host the group at my house.  For the occasion I prepared a simple meal to accompany the wines, including tagliolini al ragu (featuring pasta directly from Alba), osso buco, and a selection of cheeses.  As always, a great time was had by all.

We started with a selection of wines from Francesco Rinaldi, a producer whose wines I have only tasted sporadically over the years.   As much as I love traditional Barolo, the house style here is on the austere side, and frankly a bit much for me.  Some might say the wines simply need time to reach maturity.  That may be the case, but even the wines from 1958 and 1964 retained the estate’s characteristic unyielding, monolithic personality and it is not likely that any amount of further bottle age will alter their fundamental qualities.  That said, several of my fellow tasters found the wines captivating and more enjoyable than I did.  Regardless, this was a great opportunity to taste this estate’s wines over a span of years including many historic vintages such as 1958, 1964, 1971, 1982, and 1985.  The bottles were all pristine and the wines have held up extremely well.

Our next grouping consisted of two wines served blind.  Giacosa’s 1986 Barbaresco Santo Stefano and Bartolo Mascarello’s 1980 Barolo show the heights Nebbiolo can reach in the hands of a serious producer even in lesser vintages.  Both wines were outstanding and while clearly not at the level of each respective producer’s finest wines, they offer a compelling mature-Nebbiolo drinking experience today.  We then moved into a flight of Luciano Sandrone’s great Barolos from the 1980s.  Over the years Sandrone has been the producer who has most successfully bridged the gap between traditional and modern styles in Barolo.  Tasting these wines together was a revelation, allowing us to track this producer’s evolution.  The only thing missing was a bottle of the mythical 1990 to cap things off, but as the song goes, you can’t always get what you want.

After several hours of tasting and debating we arrived at our final flight. The theme?  Monfortino old and new.  We were fortunate to taste an impeccable bottle of the 1978 Monfortino, which is on my short list as one of the greatest Barolos ever produced.  Tasting this wine from a perfect bottle is always an unforgettable experience.  With it we paired the 1998, the most recent release.  It was a great way to finish off the dinner.

Francesco Rinaldi: Barolo 1958 – 1993

1958 Francesco Rinaldi Barolo – Medium red.  Rinaldi’s 1958 Barolo is fully mature, with aromas of sweet spices and coffee beans followed by perfumed and ethereal stewed prunes on a delicate and fragile medium-bodied frame.  Though it offers good overall depth and complexity, clearly this is a wine to drink now and there is no upside to keeping bottles much longer.  89/drink now-, 01/06