1978 Barolo Riserva Monfortino

This wine was tasted during the Festa del Barolo at the Four Seasons Restaurant in New York City, February 2015.

This wine was tasted over at The Modern, New York, in late December 2013 as part of a charity dinner to support the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City.

This wine was tasted over dinner at Eleven Madison Park in New York City during November of 2012.

This wine was tasted over dinner at the Third Annual White Truffle Charity Dinner in November 2009.

This wine was tasted at the Second Annual Truffle Charity Dinner in December 2008.

This wine was tasted over dinner at Della Notte in Baltimore, Jan 2007.

For our January meeting my local tasting group gathered to survey the wines of Francesco Rinaldi and Luciano Sandrone, two producers who represent different schools of thought when it comes to Barolo. By the time the evening was over however, we had also opened terrific bottles from Bruno Giacosa, Bartolo Mascarello, and Giacomo Conterno. Not a bad way to spend a cold winter evening. On this night I was fortunate to host the group at my house. For the occasion I prepared a simple meal to accompany the wines, including tagliolini al ragu (featuring pasta directly from Alba), osso buco, and a selection of cheeses. As always, a great time was had by all.

We started with a selection of wines from Francesco Rinaldi, a producer whose wines I have only tasted sporadically over the years. As much as I love traditional Barolo, the house style here is on the austere side, and frankly a bit much for me. Some might say the wines simply need time to reach maturity. That may be the case, but even the wines from 1958 and 1964 retained the estate's characteristic unyielding, monolithic personality and it is not likely that any amount of further bottle age will alter their fundamental qualities. That said, several of my fellow tasters found the wines captivating and more enjoyable than I did. Regardless, this was a great opportunity to taste this estate's wines over a span of years including many historic vintages such as 1958, 1964, 1971, 1982, and 1985. The bottles were all pristine and the wines have held up extremely well.

Our next grouping consisted of two wines served blind. Giacosa's 1986 Barbaresco Santo Stefano and Bartolo Mascarello's 1980 Barolo show the heights Nebbiolo can reach in the hands of a serious producer even in lesser vintages. Both wines were outstanding and while clearly not at the level of each respective producer's finest wines, they offer a compelling mature-Nebbiolo drinking experience today. We then moved into a flight of Luciano Sandrone's great Barolos from the 1980s. Over the years Sandrone has been the producer who has most successfully bridged the gap between traditional and modern styles in Barolo. Tasting these wines together was a revelation, allowing us to track this producer's evolution. The only thing missing was a bottle of the mythical 1990 to cap things off, but as the song goes, you can't always get what you want.

After several hours of tasting and debating we arrived at our final flight. The theme? Monfortino old and new. We were fortunate to taste an impeccable bottle of the 1978 Monfortino, which is on my short list as one of the greatest Barolos ever produced. Tasting this wine from a perfect bottle is always an unforgettable experience. With it we paired the 1998, the most recent release. It was a great way to finish off the dinner.

It's always a lot of fun to get together with my tasting group. I knew this was going to be an unforgettable dinner when the first wine of the evening was listed as the 1985 Sassicaia, one of the most legendary and collectible wines ever produced in Italy. The plan also included a deep selection of classics, including three Giacosa Barolos from 1978, a mini-vertical of Giacosa's Barbaresco Riserva Santo Stefano spanning 1982-1990, and a mini-vertical of Conterno's Barolo Riserva Monfortino covering the historic 1978, 1982, and 1985 vintages. We were fortunate, and indeed privileged, to taste these wines from bottles that had been perfectly stored since release. As always it would be a great pleasure to share these wines and the animated conversation they bring out in a small group setting. What a night lay ahead!

We started with the 1985 Tenuta San Guido Sassicaia, which was impressive for its deep color, fresh aromatics and vibrant flavors. It offered attractive plummy fruit, cassis and toasted oak notes on a medium-bodied frame with excellent length and fine, silky tannins, conveying an impression of understated elegance. Readers fortunate enough to own this wine can look forward to at least another decade of prime drinking.

For most observers 1978 occupies a hallowed place among the legendary vintages in Piedmont. From a purely historical perspective 1978 is also a fascinating vintage to study because it is the last important vintage in which the wines were largely made with traditional methods, both in the vineyards and in the cellar. These wines pre-date the arrival of the more modern style of winemaking which in the 1980s would begin to change the way many estates vinified and aged their wines. A recent dinner in New York with a group of die-hard Nebbiolo fanatics provided a great opportunity to re-visit many of the vintage's benchmark wines. As often happens, extraordinary vintages are the result of unpredictable and unexpected climactic conditions. “1978 was a very strange year,” says Mauro Mascarello. “The spring was quite damp, which resulted in a delayed and irregular flowering. The plants were carrying only about one-half of their normal amount of fruit. We basically had no summer, as the weather remained cool, rainy and foggy all the way through August. It really looked like it would be a terrible vintage. Then, all of a sudden, on the first of September the weather turned, and we had uninterrupted heat all the way through to October, with our harvest taking place in the second half of October.” The hot weather fully ripened the little fruit that remained and the naturally low yields gave some of the most concentrated, memorable wines ever made These 1978s show the extraordinary longevity that the best Barolos and Barbarescos offer. I was amazed at how youthful the wines were, an opinion shared by most, if not all, of the other tasters. Many wines displayed a lively, healthy color and appeared to be still full of life. Critics of traditionally made wines would say that the 1978s are an example of how these wines are never really ready to drink, and certainly the wines have required a great deal of patience. However, after having tasted more than twenty wines from this vintage over the last few months I can only conclude that the 1978s have proven to be well worth the effort of waiting. Well-stored bottles will provide the emotionally moving drinking experience that only a few of the world's great wines can offer. The wines were decanted several hours prior to serving and were tasted non-blind. While researching this article I had the opportunity to taste several other 1978s and also I include notes on those wines.

A recent gathering of passionate Nebbiolo lovers in Boston provided a great opportunity to open a wide range of wines spanning four decades and the full gamut of styles. The wines were critically evaluated and discussed without food after which they were heartily enjoyed with a variety of delicious homemade dishes, among them our hosts' spectacular braised short ribs, which were so exceptional they nearly stole the show. The wines were decanted for several hours prior to being served and tasted blind. Given the casual nature of the evening notes on these wines should be interpreted as impressions rather than formal tasting notes.