1997 Barolo Brunate

Marcarini's Barolo Brunate is one the most representative wines in the region year in year out. I recently had a chance to taste the six most recent vintages, which was a great learning experience. The wines are all very young and will require patience. It would be great to do this tasting again in ten years, and see how the wines have developed. While all the wines are excellent, the 1999 and the 2001 are truly special and the 1998 is not too far behind…

In terms of his wines Marchetti says “I tend to look at 1996, 1999, and 2001 as being similar in style. The 1996 has the hardest tannins and is still very young. The 1999 is more complex and potent, and the 2001, while also potent, is easily the most elegant of the three. I expect the 1996, 1999, and 2001 to be the most long-lived of the wines. The 1998 and 2000 are similar, they are both fatter, more feminine and easier to drink right now, they will easily last 15 or more years. The 1997 I place in a category by itself because of the very ripe, high-alcohol style wine we made in that vintage. 1997 is also drinking well right now, but probably won't last as long as my other wines.”

"Nineteen ninety-eight is like '96 in Barolo: both vintages are rather severe and full of mystery," opines director Manual Marchetti. "Nineteen ninety-nine is even bigger than '98, as well as more floral and elegant. The '97s are also large-scaled wines, but they are very approachable and are coming into harmony already. All of these recent vintages are very big."x000D x000D Marcarini changed its pumping-over approach beginning with the '98 vintage. In '96 and '97 the musts were pumped over by hand twice a day; in '98 an automated system that sprays the must onto the cap 24 hours a day without breaking it was introduced. The goal, according to Marchetti, "is to get the same polyphenols but less of a green taste in the mouth, more elegance." Total maceration times remain as long as previously-30 days in '98, an unusually long 45 in '97 and 27 in '96-with considerable post-fermentation maceration carried out "for stability." These are not hugely fleshy or freakishly concentrated wines, just highly aromatic, unforced Barolos that are accurate reflections of their respective vineyards. As Marchetti succinctly puts it: "We don't build wines." Marcarini is always among the last to pick nebbiolo, Marchetti adds. "In '97 and '98 we started on October 20; even in '99 we didn't begin until October 17."

According to director Manuel Marchetti, the 1997 vintage produced less floral, less penetrating Barolos than '96 but wines with impressive glyceral richness thanks to their high levels of alcohol. Maceration times were even longer than normal, and the conversion of sugar to alcohol was more efficient than usual, he adds. That is, grapes with potential alcohol of 14% finished their fermentations with very close to 14%. Interestingly, Marchetti says the '97s have healthier acids than the '95s (Marcarini began the harvest very late in '95, on October 27!). I asked Marchetti to describe the typical differences between his two Barolos, which come from two adjacent vineyards at the southern edge of La Morra. "La Serra is more floral," Marchetti explains. "Even though it develops truffle and leather and licorice notes with age, it will always retain its floral character. Brunate is spicier, and grows more ethereal and complex with bottle aging." x000D x000D x000D x000D x000D x000D x000D x000D Nebbiolo lovers without the patience to age Barolo should check out Marcarini 1995 basic nebbiolo bottling, which sees no wood and offers quintessential varietal character and perfume. Plain nebbiolo is Barolo in blue jeans, Marchetti points out, but there much less of it these days because nebbiolo prices have gotten so expensive.