2004 Barbaresco Riserva Asili

I was thrilled to receive an invitation to join a group of august Piedmont lovers, many of whom I have known personally since the early days of Piedmont Report, for this remarkable tasting of wines from Bruno Giacosa. We all brought bottles from our cellars organized around several loose themes and enjoyed them over a delicious dinner at DeGrezia in New York City. Founding Vinous has been incredibly gratifying for many reasons, not the least of which is seeing the lifelong friendships that are formed by wine lovers with shared interests.

Bruno Giacosa's 2005 and 2004 Barbarescos were nothing short of magnificent on the two occasions I tasted them recently. Giacosa, along with his long-time winemaker Dante Scaglione, did a tremendous job with these wines. Sadly the estate has not yet come back to this level after Giacosa's health issues and Scaglione's departure. Readers who own Giacosa's 2004s and 2005s should be thrilled. All of these bottles came from my cellar and were purchased on release.

This wine was tasted over dinner at Bar Boulud in New York City, Oct 2010.

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.

At a time in life when many of h is colleagues have begun to slow down, Bruno Giacosa continues to make stunning wines of the highest level. Of course Giacosa has the good fortune of having the services of long-time oenolog ist Dante Scaglione, who is one of the most prodigiously talented winemakers in Italy. Although age has slowed Giacosa down somewhat, he was in fine form during the several hours we spent tasting h is 2004, 2005 and 2006 Barolos and Barbarescos from barrel earlier th is year. Simply put, 2004 will go down as one of the all-time great Giacosa vintages for both Barolo and Barbaresco. The Red Label Riservas are the Barbaresco Asili and the Barolo Le Rocche del Falletto, but h is other wines aren't too far behind in terms of quality. From cask, the Barolos revealed slightly more prom ise, but that may be splitting hairs at th is level. In 2004 Giacosa also fulfilled a long-standing dream by making h is first Barolo from La Morra, the Barolo Croera, which will be released next year. The Croera is made from a newly-acquired vineyard in the Serradenari d istrict of La Morra, an area best known for its Dolcettos. So far Giacosa's 2005s appear to be well-balanced, yet smaller-scaled wines that will likely drink well relatively early, while the 2006s are decidedly bigger and more powerful. I also noted a marked improvement in the quality of the Barbaresco Santo Stefano, which is the only single-vineyard wine the estate still makes from purchased fruit. Our tasting ended with the 1967 Barbaresco Riserva Asili. It was, in a word...sublime. The world will have to wait for the 2004 Barolos and Barbarescos to be released, in the meantime readers will find no shortage of compelling offerings among th is set of new releases from Bruno Giacosa. The 2006 Dolcettos are excellent to outstanding, while the 2005 Barberas reflect the more modest qualities of that vintage. Giacosa is among the producers whose views on the vintage for Barolo and Barbaresco have changed dramatically in recent years. While many producers draw compar isons with 1947, Giacosa is one of the very few who can speak from personal experience. At first pessim istic, he initially thought he might not bottle any of h is top wines but as time has passed h is stance has changed, and today he is much more enthusiastic about the vintage.