1998 Barolo Bussia Soprana Vigna Cicala

Franco Conterno was highly optimistic about the 2001 vintage, describing it as "better than 2000 for all of our wines, though not as strong as 1999." He went on: "In 2000 we had a very dry season, with just enough rain to have a normal good vintage. These wines are a bit like '97 but with more acidity. The problem for the '99s is that they're just too young now. They're strong in all the elements, and they respect the typicity of nebbiolo. Vintage '98 is not quite so rich, but very elegant. And '97 is too round and ripe, with not enough acidity. It's less fine and perfumed than our favorite years."The Conternos (Aldo's son Stefano is the winemaker, Giacomo works in the office and Franco is in charge of exports) eschew small barrels for their Barolos but use all new barriques to age their Bussiador chardonnay, their red blend Quartetto and their Il Favot nebbiolo. "There's nothing wrong with barriques," Franco points out. "It's a question of how you use them. A Ferrari with Schumacher at the wheel is a very good car; with me it would be dangerous." The Conterno Barolos spend eight to ten days on their skins, just until the end of the fermentation. A propeller in the fermenter keeps the cap wet and allows for quicker extraction of color. The seeds fall into a trough at the bottom of the tank, enabling the Conternos to extract without getting bitter tannins.

"In general, the '97 Barolos are exaggerated wines," says Aldo Conterno. "Too many wines from our region are big but inelegant. They're easy to drink due to low acidity, but too many of them are jammy and over-mature. I know of wines with alcohol as high as 15.8%. We picked very early in '97 to try to avoid these excesses." Conterno is high on the '98 vintage, which, he says, displays the structure and elegance of '96 but has lower acidity. "The '98s are bigger than the '96s but may be even better, as one can see the elegance early." x000D x000D Today Conterno Barolos make use of a bit more wood during the fermentation, although Conterno does not consider this recent change as an abandonment of traditional methods. Previously the Barolos were fermented in stainless steel, then allowed two or three weeks of natural sedimentation before they went into large barrels. Now they are fermented in 25-hectoliter tinos the Cicala spends a week in a rotofermenter, then is racked off its skins into 50-hectoliter tanks, where it finishes its primary fermentation. And the Gran Bussia is vinified entirely in wood. "Wine used to be viewed as an aliment," Conterno explains. "But now people drink it for pleasure. And wood opens the wine; the wine is ready sooner. But we can say that using wood is also a more traditional approach than stainless steel, which we didn't have in the old days."