1996 Barolo Brunate

It is amazing to contemplate how far Vietti has come in just few short years. In the 1990s, Vietti was a much more modern-leaning producer. The Barolos were done in a more extracted style than is the norm these days. Luca Currado gave his 1996s a year in French oak barrique followed by a year and half in cask. There was also a fairly dramatic stylistic chasm between the Lazzarito - the most overly modern Barolo in the range - and the other Barolos. Today, that gap has been closed, and the wines are made in a much more classically-leaning style. Readers should note that the 1996 Barolo Rocche di Castiglione was not part of this tasting. A recent note is available in the Vinous database.

Gaja ex-agronomist Federico Curtaz has been consulting here for the past two years, helping the Currado family more closely match clones and vine structure to the specific site, as well as further reduce yields. Even for their dolcetto, the Currados are now doing considerable leaf pulling to get riper fruit earlier. "At today's prices and in today's competitive marketplace, dolcetto can't be a simple, light food wine anymore," notes Luca Currado. Currado told me that in the family's view, '96 in Barolo and '97 in Barbaresco are the top recent vintages. "Nineteen ninety-eight is a very good year for Barbaresco too," he added, "but not up to the level of '97 or '96." Incidentally, the Barolo Brunate was hailed on in '98, so there may not be a Brunate bottling from this vintage.