Giacomo Conterno

“I've always believed 1999 is a truly great vintage, one that unites classical structure with ripeness, profound aromatics and power,” says Roberto Conterno. “Of course the wines will require some bottle age to come around, but these are magnificent Barolos that will be extremely long-lived.” Certainly the 1990s was a great decade for this estate and its wines. Conterno produced his flagship Riserva Monfortino no fewer than seven times. I have been fortunate to taste many vintages of Monfortino. Regardless of what conventional wisdom says about the quality of vintages, the magic of these wines always emerges provided readers are patient and give the wines plenty of decanting time. “We had a very well-balanced growing season in 1999. We received a healthy amount of snow in the winter, which gave the vines some reserves of water. The spring was warm, but the temperatures remarkably consistent, so I didn't need to intervene much in the vineyard at all. We had a warm summer, but without excessive heat, and very even weather all the way through the fall. The harvest was fairly late. We began picking around October 16-17, so although not quite as late as 1996, when we harvested the Nebbiolos on the 20th of October, it was still a fairly late harvest by today's standards. The vines were not overly productive so we only ended up dropping 30-35% of our fruit during the green harvests, as opposed to vintages like 2001 and 2004 which required more dramatic green- harvesting.” There will be no Cascina Francia in 2002, but there will be a Monfortino. To say that it is the most eagerly anticipated wine of the vintage would be a gross understatement. Unfortunately I don't think this wine will be bottled anytime soon, even by Monfortino standards, as Conterno told me recently “I don't think seven years of cask will be enough to soften this wine, it may well require additional aging. For us 2002 is not a good vintage, rather it is a great vintage.”