1978 Barbaresco Riserva Montestefano

Produttori del Barbaresco is one of the few estates in the world that continues to produce fine, age worthy wines at consumer-friendly prices. Although the Produttori's Barbarescos - the Riservas in particular - age extremely well, until recently the wines haven't been considered collectible. Because of their reasonable prices, most of the wines have long been drunk up by the estate's loyal supporters, making older vintages nearly impossible to source, even in the secondary market. This tasting provided an extraordinary opportunity to get a progress report on 21of the estate's single-vineyard Barbarescos. The wines spanned 5 important harvests; 1996, 1989, 1988, 1985 and 1978, all years Piedmont loves recognize as being among the finest to grace the region. As an aside, I recently re-tasted a number of the Produttori's 2004 Riservas and promptly augmented my stock of these sublime Barbarescos. I highly encourage readers to snap up the wines while they are around. Managing Director Aldo Vacca was on hand to provide commentary on the wines, and his soft-spoken yet passionate delivery - intermingled with a healthy sense of humor - in many ways embodied all of the qualities of that make the wines themselves special. Convivio's Executive Chef Michael White presented a knock-out menu to match the wines. The pastas in particular were exceptional, but all of the dishes were to die for, not to mention that they were exquisite with the wines. This was my second great dinner at Convivio within the last few months. Given the quality of the food, I was not surprised to see the dining room completely packed despite the challenging economic environment. The tasting was organized by the Rare Wine Company, which deserves to be recognized for its dedication to delivering value to the consumer. At $295 per person, this dinner offered an unforgettable food and wine experience at a very reasonable price. One of our wines was clearly corked, but Rare Wine had a backup ready to go. Readers who attend tastings on a regular basis will recognize how unusual this level of professionalism and attention to detail has become.

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.