2005 Barolo Francia
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2020 - 2045
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Two thousand five is an interesting vintage at Giacomo Conterno because the Cascina Francia and Monfortino are so far apart stylistically. In many vintages - 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2006 and 2008 come to mind - there is a thread that connects the two Barolos, while in other years the wines are completely different. That is very much the case in 2005, where Cascina Francia is quite delicate while Monfortino is a tannic powerhouse. Roberto Conterno also opened his 2005 Barbera to help calibrate palates after a tasting of younger wines from barrel.
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After tasting three stunning vintages of Per Cristina with Domenico Clerico, I drove up the road to see Roberto Conterno, where I was treated to two more of the highlights of my September tour: the 2004 and 2006 Barolo Monfortino. Conterno describes these vintages as similar in style, just as he links 2007 and 2005 as rounder, more elegant wines. But the 2007 does not have quite the tannic structure to merit a riserva bottling, he told me. Still, Conterno, like many of his colleagues in the Langhe, described 2007 as "a masterpiece for barbera." He calls 2006 "an intermezzo between 2005 and 2004." The wines, he says, combine the structure of 2004 with the fruit notes of 2005. (Numerous importers, including Douglas Polaner Selections, Mt. Kisco, NY and The Rare Wine Company, Sonoma, CA)
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2017 - 2030
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My recent visit to Giacomo Conterno was fascinating, as I had an opportunity to spend several hours tasting through all of the wines in barrel with proprietor Roberto Conterno. The question of succession is always an issue in small, family-run wineries, but this is one example where the younger generation is building on past success by taking things to an entirely new level. I can only imagine how proud Giovanni Conterno would be if he could see (and taste!) the sublime wines that have emerged from this property in recent years. Among the wines still in barrel, the most promising appear to be the 2002, 2004 and 2005 Monfortinos, all of which are spectacular at this stage. I also tasted Conterno's first wines from his newly-acquired vineyard in Cerretta. The 2008s show a work in progress as Conterno only had control of the vineyard for a few months that year. It will be interesting to see what he comes up with going forward. These two new releases from proprietor Roberto Conterno are stellar. This year there is no Monfortino, as the next vintage that is scheduled for release, the 2002, is still in barrel. Depending on one's point of view, the lack of a new Monfortino might be good or bad news. I, for one, don't mind a year without having to make the significant but very worthwhile investment acquiring these wines requires.
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Roberto Conterno's 2002 Barolo Monfortino is a legend before its time, as the neighbors have been talking about it for years and the wine is still nowhere near being bottled. In this mostly dreadful vintage in which virtually no producers released single-vineyard wines, Conterno announced early on that he'd be offering the estate's flagship Monfortino bottling. The reason? Conterno's Cascina Francia vines in Serralunga were spared the September hailstorm, and Conterno let the fruit hang very late in order to get sound phenolic ripeness. "It basically stopped raining after the early September hailstorm in the region and we benefited from a long period with cool nights. We eventually harvested in Cascina Francia on October 18 and 19, eliminating only the dried grapes. There was very little need to throw out anything else in 2002. " Conterno went on: "There was no in-between in this vintage," he told me. "There's either nebbiolo, which in this region was unfortunately often bottled as Barolo, or there's wine with great power. When we saw what we had harvested, my father said 'let's make only Monfortino. '" Conterno told me I was the first journalist he had showed the wine to (?), then made me promise not to publish a note. I can report that the sample I tasted, though reduced, had a very deep color; a wonderfully primary, sappy nose; almost shockingly young flavors of black fruits and minerals; and building tannins that reached the incisors. It clearly offers outstanding potential, but it remains to be seen how the market will respond to an expensive cult bottling from a forgettable vintage. As a rule, Conterno bottles his Monfortino after seven years of aging in large ovals. ("The reason we harvest so late is that we use only the tannins from the grapes, so we need to have full phenolic maturity," Conterno explained. ) He racks his wine three or four times in the first year, then once a year "at most" thereafter. "The 2001 went two or three years without a racking," he told me. "There's no rule; it depends on how the wine tastes. You know, it's more important that people recognize my wines in a tasting than like them. Otherwise we risk getting lost in the ocean of wine. " Conterno loves the 2004 vintage for both barbera and nebbiolo. "We had incredible fruit and there are many similarities to 2001: similar quantity and similar elements. In both years we eliminated about half of the grapes in a green harvest, and we made only about 28 hectoliters per hectare of Barolo in both years. " (Numerous importers, including Douglas Polaner Selections, New York, NY and The Rare Wine Company, Sonoma, CA)
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