2001 Barolo Riserva Le Rocche del Falletto

I won’t soon forget this spectacular dinner at Ristorante Osteria Carletti, a cozy restaurant/inn located in Bedano, Switzerland. For the occasion, dear friends in Lugano surprised me with a number of stunning wines and personal favorites. What a lineup!

This is a fabulous set of wines from one of the great Giacosa vintages. Admittedly, opening ten year-old Giacosa Barbareschi and Baroli must be viewed as a purely academic excercise, as the wines are nowhere near ready. Readers will have to be especially patient, as most of these wines have entered a closed phase after having been surprisingly accessible early on.

Bruno Giacosa has been responsible for many of the most memorable Barolos and Barbarescos I have enjoyed through the years, so I was thrilled to be able to taste with him again in September. After all, Giacosa had suffered a stroke in early 2006, but he was slowly on the mend in September and was quite excited to show and discuss his young 2004s. He described this vintage as great, having produced elegant, structured wines with superb fruit, especially in Barolo. He added that he never expected the 2003s to be outstanding but that they have turned out to be "very good," even if there was a lot of stress on sandier sites in Barbaresco. Two thousand five, he went on, is a good normal crop of wines, from a summer that was "not great. " My tasting with Giacosa, his daughter Bruna and long-time enologist Dante Scaglione once again turned up some epic bottles that remained in my mind, if not on my palate, through my entire stay in the region. I tasted on a warm day in a room with a broken air-conditioner, but Giacosa's Barolos and Barbarescos have a way of focusing the mind and body.

Although Bruno Giacosa is a shy, introspective man, he has always been available for at least a quick “hello,” so my most recent visit to the estate was poignant as it was the first time in several years Giacosa wasn't on the property. I know I am joined by admirers around the world in wishing him a speedy recovery from his recent health issues. In the meantime, I am confident that the winery is in good hands with long-time oenologist Dante Scaglione, a man who has dedicated the bulk of his career to the family and the estate. With his 2000s but even more so his 2001s, Giacosa has really reached stratospheric levels. Readers who are looking for wines that are relatively accessible and offer super-ripe, sweet fruit will love the 2000s, while those who prefer wines with more aromatic complexity and nuance will likely gravitate towards the 2001s. In 2000 I believe Giacosa was more successful with his Barbarescos than with his Barolos. As for the 2001s...well, they are awesome across the board. The wines have much of the ripeness and sweet fruit of the 2000s, but with more explosiveness, complexity, depth, freshness as well as silky, elegant tannins that give the wines a sense of total balance and harmony. These are very complete wines to marvel over. In 2003 the only Barbaresco that has been bottled is the Asili. Like many of their colleagues Giacosa and Scaglione have been positively surprised with how well that wine has developed over the past few years.