1999 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

2014 - 2039

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Giovanni and Roberto Conterno made two of their all-time greatest Barolos in 1999. I remember drinking a lot of the 1999 Cascina Francia when it was first released. At the time, it was (relatively) inexpensive and no one had an interest in the vintage. How much things have changed since then. Readers who are fortunate enough to own the 1999s are going to be thrilled.

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This wine was tasted during La Festa del Barolo's Gala Dinner in April 2013.

"The spirit of sharing and camaraderie the world’s best wines inspire was in evidence at La Festa del Barolo, where I was fortunate to enjoy a range of emotionally moving, transcendental wines." Antonio Galloni

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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

2013 - 2013

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“I've always believed 1999 is a truly great vintage, one that unites classical structure with ripeness, profound aromatics and power,” says Roberto Conterno. “Of course the wines will require some bottle age to come around, but these are magnificent Barolos that will be extremely long-lived.” Certainly the 1990s was a great decade for this estate and its wines. Conterno produced his flagship Riserva Monfortino no fewer than seven times. I have been fortunate to taste many vintages of Monfortino. Regardless of what conventional wisdom says about the quality of vintages, the magic of these wines always emerges provided readers are patient and give the wines plenty of decanting time. “We had a very well-balanced growing season in 1999. We received a healthy amount of snow in the winter, which gave the vines some reserves of water. The spring was warm, but the temperatures remarkably consistent, so I didn't need to intervene much in the vineyard at all. We had a warm summer, but without excessive heat, and very even weather all the way through the fall. The harvest was fairly late. We began picking around October 16-17, so although not quite as late as 1996, when we harvested the Nebbiolos on the 20th of October, it was still a fairly late harvest by today's standards. The vines were not overly productive so we only ended up dropping 30-35% of our fruit during the green harvests, as opposed to vintages like 2001 and 2004 which required more dramatic green- harvesting.” There will be no Cascina Francia in 2002, but there will be a Monfortino. To say that it is the most eagerly anticipated wine of the vintage would be a gross understatement. Unfortunately I don't think this wine will be bottled anytime soon, even by Monfortino standards, as Conterno told me recently “I don't think seven years of cask will be enough to soften this wine, it may well require additional aging. For us 2002 is not a good vintage, rather it is a great vintage.”

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Drinking Window

2009 - 2009

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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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Roberto Conterno rates 1999 tops among recent vintages, followed by 2001 and then 2000. "Nineteen ninety-nine is the most complex wine," he told me, "while the 2000 is a very elegant Barolo for earlier drinking. Two thousand one was an excellent vintage with a tendency toward overproduction," he went on, adding that by cutting a lot of grapes in August he was able to limit production to about 30 hectoliters per hectare. "The young 2001s are currently sterner than the relatively open 2000s," he noted. As I reported in Issue 105, the estate replaced its freisa and dolcetto with barbera and nebbiolo after the 2000 vintage, and now ages its barbera for 21 months in large casks (prior to the 2001 vintage, the barbera was bottled the summer after the harvest). But with that exception, Conterno pointed out, "nothing has changed in the vinification here, and there is never any clarification of the wines prior to bottling. "

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Among the new developments at this renowned traditionalist: the Conternos replaced their dolcetto and freisa with nebbiolo and barbera after the 2000 vintage and will now concentrate on just two varieties. Also, beginning with the 2001 vintage, they will age their barbera a full year longer (21 months vs. 9) - "the way the wines were made 30 years ago," according to Roberto Conterno, who added that 2001 was a good time to make this change as this vintage supports longer aging.The Conterno Barolos continue to spend a long time on their skins during the fermentation (a month or more for the Monfortino, a bit less for the Cascina Francia) and are aged exclusively in large old Slavonian ovals. The Cascina Francia is bottled during the fourth year after the vintage and the Monfortino during the seventh year. "Only the use of large barrels enables us to maintain the particular aromatic characteristics of each year," explains Conterno. "The weather conditions we have during July create the terpenes, the classic Barolo perfumes like rose petal and camphor, and we find these aromatic characteristics only after three or four years of aging the wines in larger casks. Certainly barriques give certain advantages but we think that they standardize the wines." Conterno told me he was most fond of '99 and '97 among his recent vintages, but he noted that '98 had a more classical balance.

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