Massolino, Barolo, 2016
Sourced from Serralunga d'Alba, with a tiny percentage of Castiglione Falletto. It opens with an intense, almost intoxicating bouquet of cherries, roses and herbs (mint, a touch of garrigue). The palate also makes an intense start, very expressive, almost overloading the taste buds with sour fruit and acidity. As it settles down, experiencing it becomes less of an extreme sport so much as playing around in its backyard, discovering more nuances in the aromas and relishing the roasted herbs and soy sauce on rusty finish.
Castello di Verduno, Barbaresco, Rabajà-Bas, 2015
When Gabriella Burlotto married Franco Bianco, a fourth generation Barbaresco producer, Castello di Verduno came into holdings in a couple of Barbaresco crus and today produces four Barbaresco bottlings (which is actually more than the number of Barolos they produce): a Barbaresco normale, a Faset, this Rabajà-Bas and a Riserva. Like the Massolino, this, too, is quite intoxicating, with aromas of dry cherries and that heady mix of herbs and scorched earth that turns Piedmont afficiandos into raging fanatics. It feels still primary (it did get less air than the Massolino, mind). The balance is good; the fruit is a touch sweetish (sour-sweet, though, not ripe-sweet) but nothing about the tannins or acidity says “warm vintage”. What I do hear is “five years.”
Castello di Verduno, Barbaresco, 2017
This is always a blend of Faset and Rabajà. This isn't the first 2017 I've drunk or tasted that belies any pre-conceptions of what a hot vintage should be like. Indeed, the first impression is that it's as good a wine, if not better, than the Rabajà-Bas, which hailed from from a nominally better vintage. The nose might be less intoxicating and heady, but it has the crisp focus of a colder year: bright red fruit, wet pine needles. The palate has the focus and offhand elegance of good Cote de Nuits village wine, with a savory finish that is all Piedmont.
Galloni has a good write up on the vintage, which explains why the wines have a different character than one would expect given a hot, dry year that parched the topsoil. To sum: 2017 was hot but evening temperatures were cool and mitigated some of the effects of the heat, weather during harvest was stable and growers have gained experience dealing with hot vintages. He explains how harvesting and winemaking decisions effected the texture and type of tannins the wines. I've found a note where he actually called the wines racy, which this one certainly is.
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