1999 Barolo Castiglione

“I am a big fan of the 1999s and expect them to be long- lived wines,” says Luca Currado. “Today I find that the wines have started to close down in the bottle as they lose their primary fruit and begin acquiring more tertiary aromas and flavors. The only one of my wines I would advise opening now is the Castiglione, the other Barolos should be forgotten about for at least another few years. Based on what I've tasted my impression is that over the long haul 1999 is a vintage which will favor traditionally made wines made with longer maceration times, as I expect to be the case with 2004 as well.” In the past one of my criticisms of this estate has been that the use of barrique tends to obscure too much of the nuances in the wines, especially a shame for a producer working with some of the most prestigious vineyards in the zone. “We have never been huge users of small oak, usually limiting the wines to no more than twelve months of barrique,” responds Currado. “That said, in vintages such as 1998 and 1999 we found perhaps a slight excess of sweet flavors contributed by the barriques which tended to mask some of the vineyard qualities in wines like Lazzarito, Ravera and Brunate. In vintages 2003, 2004, and 2005 we have kept our Barolos in barrique even less time.” Indeed, I have tasted the 2003 and 2004 Barolos on two occasions and the wines offer outstanding potential. They will be fascinating Barolos to follow over the next few years.