1999 Barolo Arborina

This wine was tasted as part of a side-by-side retrospective of Elio Altare’s Barolo Arborina and Langhe Arborina.

Elio Altare's 1999 Barolos are just as memorable today as they were a decade ago, when I first tasted them. My only regret is not having purchased more of the 1999s upon release, when I had amply opportunity to do so.

Over the next few years there are likely to be some changes at this estate as Elio Altare's daughters Elena and Silvia take an increasingly active role at the winery. Elena is finishing her enological studies at Alba, while Silvia has tended to focus on the more commercial aspects of running the business. “I feel like I've pretty much accomplished everything I set out to do in Piedmont. It's time for the younger generation to take over,” Altare told me recently. For the past few years Altare has been helping a friend in Liguria make wine and he is clearly attracted to the area, as part of the family traces its origins to the region. “Of course I will continue to be very much involved in my Piedmont wines, but I also want my daughters to be able to find their own way without feeling too heavy a burden from the preceding generation.” Talking about his current releases, the perfectionist Altare is as always his own most severe critic. “To be honest I am not a big fan of the 2003 vintage as it was just too hot. I find the wines to be vulgar. They are big, concentrated and overly alcoholic wines that are just too much for my taste.” Unfortunately there are no 2002 Barolos from Altare. “Vintage 1999 reminds me of 1996 stylistically. That year we had wines with hard tannins and higher acidities, but even when the wines were young you could see the immense power and structure they had. It is a vintage that has matured slowly and the wines have taken ten years to get to the point where only now they have started to soften somewhat. I see 1999 as being similarly austere, and expect the wines to age very slowly. The wines are just like the typical Piedmontese person who can initially appear stern and unyielding but then opens up after a glass or two of wine. Personally I prefer my 1998s, as I find the vintage to be more elegant, but ultimately time will be the judge.” These 1999 Barolos are all outstanding, however there is a wider quality gap between the Barolo normale and the single-vineyard wines than is the case in vintages 2000 and 2001, which is very much consistent with the characteristics of the vintage. The approach to winemaking here remains very pure and unadulterated. Altare tends to his vines like a garden, which is in fact another of his passions. There are no artificial fertilizers of any kind used. “I personally work all of my vineyards so in the interest of my own health, why would I use anything that is unnatural on my plants,” asks Altare rhetorically. Altare was one of the first proponents of low yields in these parts and he remains a fervent believer in that approach. In a simple, functional cellar, Altare's approach is similarly stripped down to the bare essentials. Fermentations here are measured in hours rather than days. Altare opts for a 3-4 day fermentation in rotary fermenters after which the wines do their malos and finish their aging in barriques of various ages. Altare believes in manipulating the wines as little as possible. Racking is kept to a minimum as he believes that each time wines are moved they lose aroma and flavors, and bottling is done without the aid of fining and/or filtration. Elio Altare's Barolos remain among the most profound expressions of Nebbiolo and La Morra terroir.

Altare was in a contemplative mood when I stopped by on a quiet Monday afternoon, and he spent a good half-hour summing up the last 20 years of progress in the Barolo appellation (eventually I had to remind him that I wanted to taste his wines). "Nebbiolo is more tannic, more astringent, than pinot noir; thus we use shorter macerations," said Altare, in answer to my first question about whether quick extraction of color through the use of rotofermenters compromises the aging potential of Barolo. "What I am sure of, from my own experience, is that the wine is better for at least its first 15 years, maybe 20. You know, wine is an interpretation; you can never satisfy everyone. Why does wine have to be tannic, acid, hard? I like wine that's elegant, perfumed, fruity, balanced. It's a drink of pleasure, period. We don't tell people how to eat; why should we tell them what kinds of wines they should be drinking?"Altare, who lists his major influences as Burgundy, Angelo Gaja and Paul Pontallier, told me he first used a bit of barrique for his Barolo in 1985, then by 1990 arrived at the 80/20 ratio of used and new barrels that he still uses today. He made it clear that he has no rule on the length of the maceration. "We need to adapt the number of days on the skins to the conditions of each year. For example, in 1994 I did only 40 hours of maceration and today I love these wines. In 1998, the wines spent five days on their skins at a very cool 25 to 28 degrees [centigrade], maybe too cool. In '99, the temperature was more like 32 to 35 degrees." (Marc de Grazia; numerous importers, the most important of which are Michael Skurnik Wines, Syosset, NY; Vin Divino, Chicago, IL; and Estate Wines Ltd., San Rafael, CA)