1996 Barolo Francia

Wine Details
Place of Origin

Italy

Serralunga D'alba

Piedmont

Color

Red

Grape/Blend

Nebbiolo

Reviews & Tasting Notes

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Drinking Window

2016 - 2036

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Readers who want to get a sense of how much the wines have developed at Giacomo Conterno could start by tasting the 1996s and comparing them to a recent vintage with similar structural attributes, the most obvious being 2010. When the 1996s were released, they were impenetrable and hard as nails. The 2010s are also massively structured, but much more available at a similar stage in their lives. These are two gorgeous wines from Giovanni and Yvonne Conterno. It may seem hard to believe today, but when these wines were first released, they were widely available.

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This wine was tasted as part of a charity dinner at Eleven Madison Park to benefit Haiti in June, 2010.

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Drinking Window

2011 - 2011

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In May of this year I attended two very special tastings at Cru in New York. Winemakers Roberto Conterno and Mauro Mascarello were in town to present extensive verticals of their Barolos. The first tasting took place in the afternoon and featured current releases as well as a few older vintages. Although I generally avoid trade events because they don't allow enough time to accurately assess each wine, this sit-down tasting, which was hosted by importer Doug Polaner, was extremely well organized. Cru Wine Director Robert Bohr and his staff did an outstanding job in coordinating the service of the wines, which was no small feat. Between the afternoon tasting and the dinner that followed, I don't think I have ever tasted so many profound and emotionally moving wines in a single day! The wines were double decanted a few hours prior to serving. Roberto Conterno kicked off the tasting by talking about his estate and its winemaking philosophy. Giacomo Conterno is without question one of the most historically significant domaines in Piedmont, and all of Italy for that matter. The winery is named after Roberto's grandfather, Giacomo, who was a pioneer in producing, bottling, and exporting high quality wines decades before such practices became common in the region. It was also Giacomo who bottled the first Barolo Riserva in 1920. Giacomo's son Giovanni took over the estate in the early 1960s. Despite his untimely passing last year, Giovanni Conterno remains a towering figure in the Piedmontese landscape. Even today he is spoken about in the most respectful and reverential terms as a great man. “My grandfather's wines were good, but it was my father who really took quality to the next level,” explains Giovanni's son Roberto, who has worked in the winery since 1988. As happens with any generational change, Roberto Conterno receives many questions about the direction he is taking the estate. “A family friend said to me recently ‘your father was a traditionalist, but you are worse!'” recounts Conterno, assuring the audience that nothing will change in this winery's approach now that he is in charge. Conterno makes two Barolos both from the Cascina Francia vineyard, one of the great monopole sites in Piedmont. The vineyard was purchased by Giovanni Conterno in 1974 and measures six hectares. Cascina Francia is made in a traditional style, with natural yeasts and temperature-controlled fermentation and maceration lasting 3-4 weeks. The wines are aged in large Slavonian oak casks and are bottled in the summer of the fourth year following the harvest. In great vintages a special selection of the best fruit is made in the vineyard and that fruit becomes the Barolo Riserva Monfortino, perhaps the single most iconic wine in all of Piedmont. Monfortino is also made with natural yeasts, although fermentation/maceration time is longer, lasting 4-5 weeks, and is carried out without the aid of temperature control. Current vintages are aged seven years in cask, but past vintages have seen as much as 10 years of cask aging before being released. Monfortino is legendary for its extraordinary longevity, which is usually measured in decades.

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Although the Piedmont has enjoyed a string of highly successful vintages, production at this estate has fluctuated widely in recent years, according to Roberto Conterno, the son of Giovanni. Nineteen ninety-five brought a tiny crop due to hail: just 7,000 bottles of Barolo were produced. The small '96 and '97 vintages yielded about 12,000 bottles apiece, while '98 produced 25,000 bottles and '99 nearly 30,000! Of the recent vintages, says Roberto, '99 and '97 were highest in polyphenol levels. Still, Giovanni Conterno is especially enamored of the '98 vintage, which he says offers "a near-perfect balance of acidity, alcohol and tannins at a very high level." The estate typically harvests late for maximum ripeness; in '99, a year in which many growers picked shortly after the mid-September rainy period, the Conternos began their nebbiolo harvest on October 15.x000D x000D These are Barolos made for the long haul, rather than for early appeal. "My Barolos are best after 20 years, or 30 or 40," notes Giovanni, who has traditionally carried out a month or more of maceration. "I don't know about those four-day fermentations others are doing today," says Conterno. "But obviously, when you do very short fermentations, barriques must be used to give the wines enough tannic structure." As I noted in Issue 81, Conterno two Barolo bottlings theoretically begin with the same material (from Cascina Francia in Serralunga) but receive different vinification and elevage. The normale spends three to four weeks on the skins and then ages in large casks before being bottled the fourth July after the vintage, while the Monfortino spends up to 35 days on the skins and is bottled seven or eight years after the vintage.

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Giovanni Conterno, joined in recent years by his son Roberto, continues to make some of Barolo most monumental wines, using traditional methods in an airy, spotless winery. Conterno two Barolo bottlings theoretically begin with identical material (from Cascina Francia in Serralunga) but receive different vinification and levage The normale spends three to four weeks on the skins and then ages in large casks before being bottled the fourth July after the vintage. The Monfortino spends up to 35 days on the skins and is bottled seven or eight years after the vintage. But 1995 represents an exception to this rule, as Conterno made the Monfortino bottling from vines that were less affected by hail. Like a few of his neighbors, Conterno describes '97 as a year for the journalists and '96 as truly great, but with low quantities due to hail. Even though he prefers '96 today, however, he admits that '97 may have at least as much long term potential. The Barolos from both years will be bottled with about 14.2% alcohol, and extract levels are roughly the same at slightly over 30 grams per liter (the '95 is also in this range).

Importer Details
Polaner Selections

Imports to: United States

Address: 19 N Moger Ave, Mt Kisco, NY 10549

Phone: +1 (914) 244-0404

Email: info@polanerselections.com

Website: https://polanerselections.com

The Rare Wine Co.

Imports to: United States

Address: 280 Valley Drive, Brisbane, CA 94005

Phone: (415) 319-9000

Email: sales@rarewineco.com

Website: rarewineco.com