The Brezza Estate in Barolo. Coeur Wine Co
The opportunity to taste older vintages of good wine should never be spurned. Undoubtedly not when the bottles are coming from the producers’ cellars and most certainly not when it is Barolo being tasted!
At each year’s Nebbiolo Prima event, the organisers arrange a supplementary retrospective tasting that celebrates the tenth year anniversary from release of the wines being presented. In the case of this year’s presentation, it was the much lauded 2010 Barolo and 2008 Barolo Riserva wines that were on show. Two exceptional vintages though slightly different in character and in the reception they received at the time of release.
This retrospective tasting provided an ideal opportunity to gauge how these wines are travelling, particularly the 2010 vintage with 18 wines on display.
The 2008 vintage flew under the radar early on, very much a “classic” vintage producing wines of quiet authority and where balance took precedence over power — these were no show ponies. However the vintage steadily gained favour over the years as its true quality emerged. On the other hand, the 2010 vintage releases were highly anticipated, the year touted as one of the best in decades. It was a cool but not cold growing season, the grapes ripening to full maturity while retaining racy and vibrant acidity. All the hallmarks for cellar worthy wines, one would think. Yet, there has been some suggestion that the wines are possibly not ageing as well as had been anticipated.
This Article was originally published on The Real Review
