In Search of Barolo

From the June 1999 Wine Editorial

We have a small selection of Rick's Picks Barolo's - some ready to drink and others not. The problem with Barolo's is that many need years of aging to reach their potential. A few Barolo's are enjoyable young, most are not, and virtually all of the Barolos available in wholesale are too young to drink - but they disappear quickly. Demand exceeds supply.
Most MWS customers are drinkers not collectors. Maintaining a selection of drinkable Barolos requires that I try to buy a few from every worthwhile vintage.

Back in February I attended an Italian wine tasting, hoping to find some Barolo of good quality at affordable prices - I found big Barolos needing much patience at forbidding prices. I also found a couple of "Super Piedmontese" that stole my heart. A Super Piedmontese, like its Super Tuscan cousin is a wine that has no legitimate appellation because of the grapes used.

The single-vineyard Barolos of Luigi Einaudi, a top producer, are superb but prohibitively expensive. The Einaudi Rosso Delle Langhe is not inexpensive either at $49.99/44.99. Its cepage is Nebbiolo, Barbera, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot - 25% each - and therefore it lacks "pedigree" and does not qualify as a DOC wine. However, I was smitten by the intense bouquet, enormous, layered, complex fruit, balanced by lovely firm tannin. Very drinkable now and for the foreseeable future, and much better value than any of the Barolos I sampled. Consequently, I think this wine's future is quite limited - there just won't be any left!

Romano Marengo's winery, called Ca' Rome, sits atop the Rabaja hill - hallowed ground for Barabaresco, which he makes. He also makes Barolo from vineyards in the Serralunga region, and from those same vineyards come the Nebbiolo and Barbera that go into Ca' Rome '96 Dapruve, another Super Piedmontese. In the Piedmontese dialect, "Dapruve" means "You simply must try this.", and my response is Amen! For me, buying this wine was a no-brainer, as it should be for you if you are willing to spend $40.99/36.89.

I am told that ordinary Piedmontese drink Barbera and Dolcetto, leaving the Nebbiolo-based Barolo and Barbaresco for the well-heeled wine-lovers of the world. Barbera makes a wide variety of delicious, fleshy, affordable wines that are well represented on our shelves. Nevertheless, I simply could not resist the Poderi Colla '97 Barbera, $21.99/19.79. It joins another Barbera that I similarly found irresistible a couple of months ago - Avocata '95 Barbera D'Asti $11.99/10.79. For starters its color is brick red - looks like a 10 or 15 yr old wine - and it tastes like no other Barbera I have ever tasted, and like no other wine in the store. Delicious. Try it!

The third Piedmontese grape Dolcetto has been an enigma to me. The name Dolcetto does not mean "sweet", as you might suppose, but "the little one" as compared to Nebbiolo and Barbera.

I have tasted many Dolcettos and almost without exception I find them to be mean little wines lacking any redeeming fruit. Grignolino, another Piedmontese varietal is similarly unpleasant, perhaps because these two varietals are relegated to the poorest vineyards with poor northern exposure, almost ensuring that they never fully ripen.

There was an exception - the '92 Marcarini Fontanazza was delightful and sold very well - but subsequent vintages have failed to duplicate it. So I very nearly passed up Luigi Einaudi's '97 Dolcetto Vigna Tecc, $20.99/18.89. I'm pleased that I did not, because it bears no resemblance to any Dolcetto I have tasted. So perhaps I am unfairly damning the grape when I should be damning the wine-grower. The Vigna Tecc has enormous concentration of fruit and extract - a big very satisfying wine. Very highly recommended!