2003 Barolo Sarmassa

Roberto Voerzio's 2003 Barolos are drop-dead gorgeous. Time has been very kind to the 2003s, all of which are even more impressive today than when they were first released. The vintage was not without its challenges, however. The high levels of ripeness caused fermentations to stick in the La Serra, Rocche dell'Annunziata/Torriglione and Merlot. Voerzio is adamant against using commercial yeasts, (which would have fixed the problem) and opted to sell those wines in bulk. Consider that in 2002 there was no Barolo made here at all because of the September hail storm that devastated La Morra. The decision not to produce three signature wines speaks to the maniacal attention to detail that informs these majestic Barolos. As always, the Voerzio, style is built on very low yields along with an otherwise minimalist approach in the vineyards and cellar. The Voerzio Barolos are long on texture and volume. In 2003, the low yields favored by Voerzio play a big part in how refined these wines are, especially in the tannin profiles.

I tasted here with assistant Cesare Bussolo, who was happy to show me the estate's 2003 Barolos but only gave me a taste of the young 2004s, which had been bottled in August. He was also unable to find a bottle of the 2003 Barolo Capalot, which will be released in 2008. But I did see the 2001, and it was a stunner. I ran into Voerzio afterwards in the village, his arm in a sling, having broken his shoulder in a fall. Voerzio clearly considers 2004 one of his greatest years: as is usually the case here, owing to very low crop levels and early ripeness, he picked earlier than most of his neighbors. But, again, he told me he thought the wines were still shocked from the recent bottling and not ready to be evaluated. Nebbiolo here gets at least three weeks of cuvaison in vertical stainless steel tanks, with a short pumpover three times a day and some manual pigeage toward the end.

Roberto Voerzio is one of the very few producers who has always been enthusiastic about h is 2003s. H is wines are beautiful even if they have shut down considerably since I last tasted them in tank a few months prior to their bottling. Voerzio's passion for the vintage notwithstanding, 2003 presented an extremely challenging set of circumstances. Some of the wines never fully completed fermenting their sugars. Voerzio refused to use the additives that could have helped, saying that would have comprom ised the wines' naturalness. In 2003 there is no Barolo La Serra or Barolo Rocche dell'Annunziata. Voerzio also decided not to bottle h is Langhe Merlot. There will be a new Barolo Riserva made from h is newest holdings in Fossati/Case Nere, of which Voerzio says “th is will be my Monfortino.” Curiously, Voerzio is often lumped in with producers of the modern ist school, yet the Piedmont wines he is most passionate about are those of Bruno Giacosa and Giacomo Conterno, both of whom are heavily represented in h is own cellar.