1998 Barolo Brunate

Wine Details
Place of Origin

Italy

La Morra, Barolo

Piedmont

Color

Red

Grape/Blend

Nebbiolo

Reviews & Tasting Notes

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Drinking Window

2017 - 2032

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This recent retrospective of Giuseppe Rinaldi’s Barolo Brunate from magnum going back to 1990 was special for so many reasons, most notably the rarity of the bottles we opened. Gordon Ramsay’s maze was the setting for what turned out to be a truly unforgettable evening.

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This wine was tasted over dinner at Eleven Madison Park during the Charity Dinner of La Festa Del Barolo 2013.

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Drinking Window

2013 - 2024

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1998 has always been an interesting vintage for Barolo. Caught between the more hyped 1996 and 1997 on one end, and 2000 and 2001 on the other, the 1998s have often been overlooked. It also didn't help that the wines were first released during a period global economic malaise. While 1998 is not a truly iconic, legendary vintage, these Barolos are great choices for medium-term drinking as a number of wines are entering their early maturity, making them great choices for readers who are cellaring wines from Piedmont's sturdier vintages such as 1996, 1999 and 2001.

Piedmont experienced mostly warm weather in 1998 with spells of drought, though nowhere near the extremes seen in 1997. The wines have always been perfumed and accessible, with an attractive softness to the fruit. Even better, the vast majority of the wines have never shut down to the extent that wines from cooler vintages often do. The 1998s are extremely consistent across the board, and that level of outstanding quality may very well end up being the vintage's strongest attribute. As is typically the case, the Barolos of La Morra and Barolo are the most forward, while those of Serralunga are the freshest. Most of these wines were from my cellar, purchased and cellared since release, although I tasted a few of the wines a second time with the producers.

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Rinaldi is a Barolo traditionalist, aggressively so. "I love severe Barolo," he told me in September, adding that, for him, the 1998 vintage was the next best year to '96 in that sense. "I don't like fruity Barolo," he went on. "I like the perfume of tar, the secondary and tertiary aromas that develop through long aging. Fruitiness is a characteristic of nebbiolo, not of Barolo. The most noble perfumes of Barolo come from aging in barrel and bottle, especially in bottle. Nebbiolo for Barolo needs slow ripening," Rinaldi added. "Cool September nights are best. It was too hot in 2000 to make Barolo with classic perfume." Rinaldi eschews barriques and many other modern techniques. "People who use technology to provoke the malolactic fermentation, those who add enzymes or de-acidify, ruin the ageworthiness of their wines," he asserts. "My private clients require a long-aging wine."