1993 Barolo Romirasco

The 1997 crop was bigger than that of '96, and there have been strong reports from all over Italy, says Aldo Conterno. That why there been so much fuss about the '97 vintage in the Piedmont, he explains. "The journalists said nothing about '96, in part because crop levels were low." Like some of his colleagues, Conterno compares '95, '96 and '97 to '88, '89 and '90, respectively. In his opinion, it was the '89 and '96 vintages that made the most classic, complete Barolos. 1997 was too hot, he maintains; the wines are too high in alcohol for perfect balance. In fact, he adds, the late pickers got fruit with 15% potential alcohol. Conterno is high on the '95s, which benefitted from low crop levels and do not, he says, show any taste of hail. It's hard to tell one's customers that there's no wine for them, he explains. "There's so much good Barolo available today that you risk losing a customer if you can't supply wine. That was the worst aspect of the '95 hail." At the time of my visit, Conterno was expecting to begin the '98 harvest by the end of September, which would have been only the third time this century the Barolo harvest began so early, along with 1961 and 1997.