1997 Barolo Bussia Soprana Vigna Colonello

"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."

The 1997 crop was bigger than that of '96, and there have been strong reports from all over Italy, says Aldo Conterno. That why there been so much fuss about the '97 vintage in the Piedmont, he explains. "The journalists said nothing about '96, in part because crop levels were low." Like some of his colleagues, Conterno compares '95, '96 and '97 to '88, '89 and '90, respectively. In his opinion, it was the '89 and '96 vintages that made the most classic, complete Barolos. 1997 was too hot, he maintains; the wines are too high in alcohol for perfect balance. In fact, he adds, the late pickers got fruit with 15% potential alcohol. Conterno is high on the '95s, which benefitted from low crop levels and do not, he says, show any taste of hail. It's hard to tell one's customers that there's no wine for them, he explains. "There's so much good Barolo available today that you risk losing a customer if you can't supply wine. That was the worst aspect of the '95 hail." At the time of my visit, Conterno was expecting to begin the '98 harvest by the end of September, which would have been only the third time this century the Barolo harvest began so early, along with 1961 and 1997.