Giuseppe Rinaldi

It's always a treat to visit Beppe Rinaldi. You never know exactly what you are going to get, as a tasting here usually involves a mixture of wine, philosophy and culture, all delivered with Rinaldi's signature dry humor. As for the wines, well, they are almost always special. This is my third time tasting the 2010 Barolos from cask within the last six months. On this visit I tasted five different barrels, which ranged from outstanding to transcendental. There is still some question as to how the wines are going to be bottled and labeled. A few months back it looked like the Cannubi/San Lorenzo-Ravera and Brunate would be bottled separately, and be joined in the range by a third Barolo made of fruit from Ravera and Le Coste that had previously gone into the Cannubi and Brunate bottlings respectively. It now appears Rinaldi might not be able to bottle the Cannubi/San Lorenzo-Ravera alone for bureaucratic reasons, so we are likely to see a pure Brunate (well, pure in that the law allows 15% of fruit from another vineyard, in this case Le Coste, in a vineyard designate) plus a second Barolo that will include fruit from Cannubi/San Lorenzo-Ravera and the part of Le Coste that does not go into the Brunate. Sound confusing? Beppe Rinaldi thinks so too, which is why he would prefer to blend all the casks together and make just one Barolo to keep things simple. I can't tell if he is serious or not, but Rinaldi's wife and daughters will probably prevail and the most likely scenario is that there will be a Barolo Brunate and a straight Barolo composed of all the other juice in the cellar. We will see. For now, I have included notes on the Brunate casks I tasted, but as mentioned above, all the wines in the cellar are special in 2010. I would buy any of the wines I tasted in a heartbeat. At its best, Barolo is a truly special wine, with complex aromatics, layers of flavor, structure to burn, and most importantly of all, the ability to captivate the taster for hours on end as the wine constantly changes in the glass. When I think of the wines that embody those qualities, Beppe Rinaldis Barolos are at or near the top of the list.