Remembering Bruno Giacosa 

BY ANTONIO GALLONI | JANUARY 24, 2018

With the passing of Bruno Giacosa the wine world loses a titan. Bruno Giacosa’s accomplishments during a career that spanned eight decades are almost too many to list. Giacosa leaves behind a rich, eternal legacy of brilliant wines and unforgettable memories for those lucky enough to have spent time with the Maestro of Nebbiolo.

Bruno Giacosa was a pillar of the generation that saw Piedmont go from the stark poverty of the 1950s to the economic prosperity of today. He was also an innovator in so many areas that are now considered standard practice. Giacosa was the first producer in Piedmont to wholeheartedly embrace the philosophy of single-vineyard, cru Barolo and Barbaresco, one of the first winemakers to have a state of the art cellar with temperature control, an early adopter of French oak and among the first producers to send wines into a lab for technical analysis. For these reasons, Bruno Giacosa has always been, in my eyes, Piedmont’s first progressive, modern producer.

But ultimately it is about the wines. The 1961s and the 1964s are still sublime. The 1971s are all finesse, while the 1978s are still shockingly young. I have always admired the precision of the 1982s and the exotic perfume of the 1989s. Giacosa's 1996s are just beginning to enter their sweet spots. The 2001s, 2004s, 2005s and 2007s will thrill those lucky enough to own them for years and decades to come. But Giacosa also excelled in less storied vintages. His 1969s, from a long-forgotten, rainy harvest, aged beautifully, while the 1986s, one of my personal favorite vintages (and a year Giacosa himself favored over the more hyped 1985s) remain under the radar gems.