1998 Barolo La Serra

Director Manuel Marchetti rates 1999 as even better than 1996, owing to its elegance. Among the recent string of strong years, according to Marchetti, 1999 was the second highest in dry extract to 1997. He described 2000 as a tricky harvest. "Some picked too early because of a bad weather forecast," he told me. "But the skins were thick, and it was possible to let the fruit hang through the rainy period in mid-October. The later-picked stuff may have lost a bit of potential alcohol but it had much more color. Vintage 2000 resembles 1998 in quality, style and structure, even if 1998 witnessed a drier harvest." The Marcarini Barolos still spend a month on their skins, but in recent years the actual length of fermentation has been shorter and an automated system has been used to spray the must onto the cap in order to push the juice through the skins more gently. These are aromatically expressive, stylish Barolos with a history of aging gracefully.

"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."