...and on the 8th day God created Langhe

Since I started my blog just a few days ago, I thought I would post my impressions from my recent trip to Langhe, although now almost a month has passed since I got back. It was really a special trip and it was interesting to get a better insight to the 2007 vintage, which I had not tasted that much of prior to the trip. It is by no means a bad vintage - not at all! However, I must admit that for my palate it lacks the structure and the massive tannins of a more "classic" vintage. I also noted that most of the producers I visited talked very positively about 2007, but at the same time they said it would not be a long lived vintage. Some also mentioned that this was a very good "restaurant vintage" - meaning that it could be enjoyed young. Many also said it would serve as a good introduction to people who didn't really understand Barolo and Barbaresco. On the other hand, when producers were talking about 2006 they all said it was an absolutely incredible vintage, and some also spoke about 2005 being a completely overlooked vintage. I only tasted two 2005 Baroli on my trip - both Altare ("Normale" and Cerretta) and they were both very good. Anyway - it will be fun to follow these vintages develop over time. I'm sure we will have a lot of good debates on this matter...

Vineyards dressed in fall colors (view from Colla tasting room)

I arrived in Langhe slightly tired after a long drive from Copenhagen. I arrived just in time to check in at the wonderful agristurismo Le Viole in Vergne, before heading on to Poderi Colla for the first tasting of the trip. It was my first visit at Poderi Colla in the hills just outside Alba. Beautiful place and very nice and humble people. After a short tour of the winery and some talks about politics we went to the tasting room with Federica Colla. In the tasting room the legendary Beppe Colla was tasting with some friends. A real treat to meet this legendary piemontese winemaker, who at age 81 still seemed in pretty good shape. We tasted a number of their different wines including: 2008 Pietro Colla Spumante, 2010 Riesling, 2010 Campo Romano, 2009 Nebbiolo d’Alba, 2006 Barbaresco Roncaglie, 2006 Barolo Bussia, 2007 Barolo Bussia, 1996 Barbaresco Roncaglie



Living legend, Beppe Colla, tasting with his friends



I don’t have a ton of experience with the wines of Poderi Colla, but I was positively surprised. The Riesling had a very good and dry finish that I liked very much. The winemaking of the Campo Romano (100% Pinot Noir) had changed after Pietro Colla has taken over more responsibility. It is no longer aged in barrique but in big casks and it was very very good – possibly the best pinot I have ever tasted from Italy. And It was the best QPR of the trip. The best wine of the tasting was however, the 2006 Barolo Bussia. What a wine – such concentration and power yet still elegant. The tannin structure is also amazing. Definitely one to put in the cellar – and keep it there for a long time. The 2007 Barolo Bussia was not that good, but they also suffered a lot of hail in Bussia. The 96 Barbaresco Roncaglie was a bit too “mature” compared to what I would have expected, but it was a pleasure to taste.



I'm ready to dig into my beloved hand cut carne cruda @ La Libera



In the evening we had dinner at La Libera with Federica Colla. We enjoyed the food of La Libera and Federica had brought two wines we missed out on at the tasting earlier: 2009 Barbera d’Alba Costa Bruna and 2007 Bricco del Drago – both were good wines that were highly enjoyable. The food however, was nothing special - I had slightly higher hopes for my first visit at La Libera. But I think the chef had left, so they were struggling a bit.

Friday morning we had an appointment at Marchesi di Gresy. Unfortunately Jeff was not there to welcome us, as he was in the US. However, we had a very good tasting in the company of Marina.



Marina talking about the wines of Marchesi di Gresy



We started out with Di Gresy Chardonnay 2009 and 2000. The 2009 was too young and a bit too oaky for me, however the 2000 was really fascinating. Especially a very distinct scent of white truffles kept putting a smile on my face. We also had Villa Martis 2008, Merlot Da Solo 2008 and Barbera d’Asti Monte Colombo 2007 before heading to the nebbiolo. None of these wines were really my style. No faults just not my style. Next up was 2007 Barbaresco Martinenga. To me it was a very smooth drinking wine without a lot of structure. It is made in a “sexy” style and I’m sure some people will really love this. However, I like my nebbiolo a bit more structured and with tannins. Then on to the 2007 Barbaresco Camp Gros, which was so light and elegant in the glass. There was clearly more structure and tannins than in the 07 Martinenga, yet the tannins were very round and IMO it lacked some structure (IMHO a general “problem” of the 07 vintage). The next wine, 2006 Barbaresco Gaiun, was a completely different animal – much bigger body and a completely different tannic structure. To me this vintage comparison just underlined how much I prefer the 06 to 07 – even in Barbaresco. The 06 Gaiun is the fines young Gaiun I have tried. At the end a real gem was opened for us: 1996 Barbaresco Camp Gros. It simply blew the other wines away. In the glass it showed some orange bricking but still a deep red core. It had a gorgeous structure and balance and in the nose distinct notes of menthol and herbs could be found. It was of course still young, but I adored it – a very complex wine. A fantastic way to end the visit. In general I must say that I become more and more happy for the Barbaresci of di Gresy. As I have stated in other posts, I think they are overlooked when talking about the best wines of Barbareco DOCG. I know that the two top bottling are not cheap, but they are really great, and I love the balance of the wines.

La Cantinetta - I love the food, but check out the wine storage...

From Barbaresco we drove to Barolo to have our “mandatory” lunch a La Cantinetta. We had 7 different antipasti – including carne cruda, an amazing vitello tonnato and of course the trade mark ravioli with and egg inside. To accompany these delicious dishes served by Maurilio and his staff we had a bottle of 2009 Giuseppe Rinaldi Langhe Nebbiolo.

This is another absolutely beautiful expression of nebbiolo. It is made solely from the Ravera vineyard in Barolo. La Cantinetta is a lovely place for lunch, however their wine storage is absolutely awful. So if you go there, you have to pick very young wines.



Monforte d'Alba seen from Conterno winery

After lunch we had an appointment with il Re del Barolo, Roberto Conterno J We were greated by a slightly sad sight as several of the old casks are standing outside the winery. This is of course not because Roberto is changing the winemaking technique, but simply a result of some of the barrels were starting to fall apart, and therefore obviously needed to be replaced.

Old botti resting outside the winery

Roberto showed us around the cellar and we saw some of the replacements – casks from Austria. As fermentation was still undergoing, we did not taste anything from cask.

Talking with Roberto in his cellar

However in the tasting room we had first the 2009 Barbera Cascina Francia, which without competition was the best barbera we had during our trip. I absolutely loved it – it reminded me a bit of the 2004 version, but maybe even better… Then we had the 2007 Barolo Cascina Francia. In 2007 Roberto chose not to make any Monfortino as he thought the quality of the wine was not "worthy" of being Monfortino as it lacked structure. However, he told us that the cask he had for Monfortino 2007 was the best of the 2007 casks, but the difference was not big enough to justify a separate Monfortino bottling and he chose to blend it with the Cascina Francia.

Roberto gently pooring the old nebbiolo

The 2007 Cascina Francia was very dark and powerful and IMHO a much more structured 2007 compared to what we tasted other places. It is a very deep Barolo with lots of dark brooding fruit, and it is certainly one that I would not be worried about “forgetting” in the cellar. Next wine was the 2004 Monfortino, which I had looked so much forward to trying. It was so silky and elegant in so perfect balance. Unbelievable!! Having said that, I must say that I prefer the big structure of the 2002 Monfortino. But they are just two very different expressions of nebbiolo – perfect in their own way.

Tasting with Roberto Conterno

At the end we opened a bottle of 1987 Barolo Cascina Francia that I had brought from my cellar here in Copenhagen. I know it seems odd to bring a bottle of Cascina Francia to Roberto, but last time I visited him, I told him of a tasting of Cascina Francia, where I was amazed by the 1987. He then said that it had been years since he tasted the 87 Francia, so I promised him to bring one next time I visited him. It was of course with some tension and nervousness that I watched Roberto uncork it – hopefully it wouldn’t be poorly stored or corked… Luckily it wasn’t. It was mindblowing and the nose was simply put, to die for. I was so impressed by its purity and elegance. Luckily so was Roberto. He was one big smile and had a very precise comment: it is perfect – basta!

Roberto opening my 1987 Barolo Cascina Francia

Standing on top of the "Holy Grail" - Cascina Francia

For dinner we went for white truffles at Tra Arte e Querce in Monchiero. Ezio is a truffle hunter and his wife Clelia is the chef – need I say more…;-)

Our hosts, Clelia & Ezio

Well it is a very rustic place and the food is good, but not great – however the truffles are quite special, although this year’s truffles could not match the truffles of last year. We were in total 8 people for dinner as my girlfriend came with four of her best friends. A great Danish/Italian evening.

Enjoying life...

We had quite a bit of wine – all of which were brought from home. We started out with a white wine made on the Timorasso grape. I believe it was Il Giallo di Costa from Ricci – I think a 2008 or 2009. It was quite particular and I really liked it. We then had a glass of Barbaresco Riserva Pora 1997 from Produttori del Barbaresco.

White truffles found by Ezio

Carne cruda and white truffle - a divine combination

Unfortunately it was a victim of poor storage, so nothing special to report on this one. We then had 2007 Barolo Cascina Francia from Magnum. It was beautiful and with food it was even better than the one we tasted with Roberto a few hours earlier.

We then had two outstanding bottles of Marchesi di Gresy Camp Gros: the 1996 and the 1989. The 96 was purchased at the winery in the morning and the 89 came from my cellar. The 96 is still a baby and the 89 is just starting to show what a great wine it is. What a joy to taste these two wines side by side.

Ezio generously shaving white truffle

Next day we went to Alba to see the market. On the way we did a bit of a detour going through Serralunga, where we stopped and walked a bit in Cascina Francia. There were still a few clusters of grapes hanging here and there, and we tasted a few of them. They were so sweet it was unbelievable – nice treat to try. In Alba we quickly got fed up with the chaos of the market and headed for Enoclub for a quick lunch. The weather allowed us to sit outside in the sun. After a long wait we were finally served. I had a lovely carne cruda along with a bottle of Menabrea Birra – a nice change from all the nebbiolo.

Maria Teresa speaking passionately about her wines

In the afternoon we had an appointment with Maria Teresa of Bartolo Mascarello. It was a very busy Saturday afternoon at the winery, but we were fortunate to have the privilege of having Maria Teresa showing us the cellar and even sitting down for more than an hour tasting the recent vintages with us.

The cellar of Maria Teresa Mascarello

We had 2010 Dolcetto d’Alba, 2009 Barbera d’Alba San Lorenzo, 2009 Freisa and 2007 Barolo. The 2007 Barolo was beautiful, elegant and well balanced. It is a typical 2007 in the sense that it is so easy to love and it is definitely very easy drinking. Maria Teresa told us that it is a wine for consumption and not for long term storage. I understand what she means, but I think she is a bit too humble. I was also very pleased with the other wines we tried. They are very true to the grape, in the sense that when tasting, you have no doubt what you do taste. She makes very small quantities of these wines and they can be difficult to get a hold of. Personally I have been a big fan of her barbera since the 2004 vintage, where I tried it for the first time. It was a very special visit, where talked a lot about wine and a lot about politics.

Mascarello line-up incl. the famed "No Barrique No Berlusconi"

In the evening we had dinner at Marsupino. We were treated with spectacular food and ditto wines. We started out with a bottle of 2006 Giuseppe Rinaldi Barolo Brunate Le Coste, which is to die for. It is simply amazing. Such perfect combination of fruit and structure. I’m so happy that I have quite a few of this wine in the cellar, because it will go down as one of the absolutely best Barolos from 2006. Wow.

Erica and me enjoying Marsupino

To follow up on this wine, we needed to bring out one of the big guns, so we had a bottle of 1996 Giacomo Conterno Barolo Riserva Monfortino and it was of course young, but it was unbelievably great. It was so complex and it seemed to just show a fraction of what it will one day unveil.

Monfortino 1996 - perfection in a bottle...

My friends ordered one more bottle which in a way was a waste, as it was clear that nothing could compete with the perfection of the 96 Monfortino. Anyway a bottle of 1996 Aldo Conterno Barolo Granbussia was opened and while it was a very good bottle of wine it was not in the same league as the 06 Brunate Le Coste and not even close to the 96 Monfortino. It was also more mature than the Monfortino, but of course an excellent bottle of wine. Needless to say that we left the restaurant in a very good mood.



Tasting with Guido Porro in his cellar



Sunday morning we had a visit with Guido Porro of Serralunga d’Alba. I tasted Guido Porro for the first time with the 2004 vintage. It was Greg dal Piaz who drew my attention to this little artisan producer – thanks for that Greg. He makes two Barolos from two different plots on the Lazzarito Vineyard in Serralunga – a) Barolo Lazzairasco (app. 10.000 bottles produced) and b) Barolo Vigna Santa Caterina (app. 4.000 bottles produced). His winery is located at the very top of the Lazzarito Vineyard with a stunning view towards Castiglione Falletto. He is very traditional in his winemaking methods and he possesses vines in some important places. We tasted the whole range of his wines: Dolcetto 2010 (5000 bottles produced) was very clean and elegant with good acidity. It only sees cement and steel and no wood. Barbera 2010 (5000 bottles produced) was in a different stage, as it had just been bottled. It sees cement followed by a few months in old Slavonian botte. Next we tried the 2010 Langhe Nebbiolo. He produced his first Langhe Nebbiolo in 2009, where he made 1000 bottles. In 2010 he had doubled the number of bottles produced to 2000. The grapes come from plants right next to Gaja’s Sperss vineyard in Serralunga. I really liked this wine. It was very pure and elegant with lots of red fruit, yet with a massive underlying structure and my mouth was coated by the tannins – lovely!

View from Guido Porro towards Serralunga d'Alba

Last we tried his two 2007 Barolos. First up was Barolo Vigna Santa Caterina which was very silky and elegant without a huge structure. Very pleasant and relatively easy drinking. The Barolo Lazzairasco was a different darker expression. It comes from 50 year old vines and maybe because of this it had managed to keep some coolness to it – despite the vintage. It possessed much more structure and was a truly great 2007 Barolo. The incredibly humble Guido Porro sensed that we were very pleased with his wines and we offered to come with him to his small cellar and taste from cask. An offer we of course couldn’t refuse J We had both Barolos in 2008 and in 2009. I especially liked the 2009s as they seemed more open and clean. It will be interesting to follow this producer over the coming years. Especially due to the fact that he was one of three producers who inherited part of Canale’s legendary plot on Vigna Rionda.



100 year old plant from Canale's part of Vigna Rionda



Guido told us that the vineyard was in a terrible condition when they took it over. Many of the plants were dead and many were more than 100 years old. So they were forced to work a lot in the vineyard and they had chosen to replant the entire plot. Guido said he expected to produce the first vintage of Barolo Vigna Rionda in 2017 or 2018.

After the visit we went to Centro Storico in Serralunga. Alessio served some simple but absolutely wonderful food for us - including a cake for dessert that made it to top of my dessert charts - and we enjoyed a stunning bottle of Barolo Monprivato 2006 and a bottle of 2009 Barbera d’Alba Cerretta from Giacomo Conterno. My girlfriend and I clearly preferred the 2009 Barbera from Cascina Francia but my two Danish friends were of the opposite opinion… After this my two Danish friends headed for Malpensa Airport, but luckily my girlfriend and I had the chance to spend a couple of more days in Langhe.



Goodbye lunch outside Centro Storico in Serralunga

 Sunday evening was spent with very good friends in Monforte. It was a cozy evening, and luckily without too much wine...

Sandro and little Princess Chiara (don't worry it was only dolcetto...)

Monday morning I had a much awaited tasting with Silvia at Elio Altare. Along with the visit to Roberto Conterno it is always the highlight of my trip to Langhe. And as things turned out this was no exception. Unfortunately my girlfriend had to work, so she couldn’t join me.

I met the legendary Elio when I got out of the car, but it was Silvia, who was showing me around. She took me to the cellar and we tried the 2009 Barolo from steel. It was so open and fruity, but with good structure. Next we tried the 2009 Barolo Arborina from steel. It was more closed and needed some air before it started showing its potential. It was somewhat deeper and more concentrated and more structured than the Barolo, but judged on how they showed on the day, I actually preferred the Barolo. After this Silvia showed me the great honor of letting me try from cask their new prestige project: 2010 Barolo Arborina – 100% hand de-stemmed. I had of course heard about the project, but I must admit I didn’t think it could make such a big difference. Boy was I wrong!! On the nose it was so sexy and elegant, that you would think you were smelling a pinot noir from Burgundy. In the mouth of course the nebbiolo showed its presence. But it was so incredibly pure and elegant that I can’t compare it to anything I have ever tried. It was just drop dead gorgeous. There won’t be many of these bottles as there were only 6 barriques of this wine. After this sensational wine, we tried the 2009 Barolo Brunate from steel. Silvia told me that this year (2011) would be the last year where they would produce a Barolo Brunate. The reason being that Mario Marengo had chosen to put an end to their swapping of Arborina grapes for Brunate grapes. It is a pity, because I have always loved the Brunate from Altare. Well, luckily based on the tasting of the 2009 Brunate, we still have some wonderful experiences waiting ahead of us. It was an adorable wine. Last Silvia took me to a tank with the 2011 hand de-stemmed Arborina. It was so primary and really fruit juice, but I felt so lucky to taste it. Thank you Silvia!

Cellar of Elio Altare

In the tasting room I was first served Barolo 2005, 2006 and 2007. It was very interesting to taste these three vintages side by side. I clearly preferred the 2006. In general when comparing vintages, 2006 is to me the perfect vintage – a beautiful marriage between a relatively warm vintage and a socalled classical vintage - massively structured but always balanced by the intense fruit. The 2005 is more feminine yet cooler in its expression, and the 2007 is the sexy woman that unfortunately shows a bit too much skin and a bit too much make-up for my taste – she is easy to fall in love with, but she won’t stay that long (maybe some conservative "neb-heads" would even consider her slightly slutty?)… After this vintage study I was served the first vintage of Altare’s new Serralunga Barolo: 2005 Barolo Cerretta. I tried it a year and a half ago, where I liked it a lot, but this time it was stunning. Much more structure and tannins than what you normally get from the La Morra Barolos. It was really beautiful. Finally Silvia’s mother came by and she wanted me to have the 2008 Langhe Arborina. It is made on 100% new oak, but it was very well integrated and I was quite impressed. I was so impressed with the wines that I was served by Silvia, and I cannot thank her enough for making the visit so special for me. Afterwards we had lunch at Duvert in Cherasco – simple but very nice. We shared a 2010 dolcetto from Domenico Clerico.

Vineyards outside Barolo

In the afternoon my girlfriend had finished her work and we could go together to Giuseppe Rinaldi. We were greeted be a very tired Giuseppe and afterwards his wife and his daughter, Martha, showed us the cellar. I have visited him before and it is quite a special experience to see the cellar. Things are messy and dark, very different from the perfect cleanliness at for example Roberto Conterno’s cellar. In fact I think Roberto Conterno’s cellar is more clean than the room where you have surgery at a Danish hospital J Well, back to Giuseppe Rinaldi – it was hectic as there were other visitors but Martha and her mom were very nice. We saw the big open vat where the the Brunate is macerated – it is more than 100 years old, and they still use it. Rinaldi’s nebbiolo was completely sold out, so we tried the barbera 2010, which was gorgeous, with clean fruit and a lot of acidity. Afterwards we tried Ravera 2008 from cask and Brunate 2008 likewise from cask. I can just say: look forward to 2008 J

Tasting with Roberto Conterno at More & Machine

In the evening we had dinner with some very good friends who live in Monforte. And afterwards we were invited by Roberto Conterno to meet for a drink at More & Machine in La Morra. Roberto had heard that we had had a cooked bottle of 2001 Barolo Cascina Francia, so he wanted to show us how good it could be. He therefore brought one from his own cellar, and it was spectacular. What a wine, superb balance and structure, but I must admit that it was more mature than I had expected. Mature is not the correct term, as it was naturally far from being mature, but it was really drinking well already now. Roberto then offered us the 1998 Cavallotto Barolo Riserva Bricco Boschis San Giuseppe, which showed extremely well. I have sometimes found 98 Barolos a bit dull and fat, but this one was singing immediately. After some discussions on the wine and from where on the vineyard the San Giuseppe part is, we had a bottle of 2007 Giuseppe Rinaldi Barolo Cannubi San Lorenzo Ravera. It was very forward and very fruit driven and while very pleasant to drink I must admit that I felt it was a bit too one dimensional. Last wine of the evening was Ferdinando Principiano 2007 Barolo Ravera. According to Roberto and some of the people from More & Machine who had joined us by now, Ravera was one of the vineyards that did the best in 2007, as it was not as exposed to the heat and the sun. Personally I don’t have experience to comment on that, but I must say that this bottle was very good and IMHO better than the Rinaldi. It was not as warm in its expression and I really liked it.

Serralunga d'Alba dressed in fog

What a way to end this fabulous stay in Langhe. Every time I go I'm impressed with the beauty of the land and this was no exception as vineyards were dressed in fall colors and it was just so incredibly beautiful. Also the openness of the people never fail to impress me. In particular the way you are greeted and received by the producers is amazing. Most of these producers are world class winemakers and yet they open their wineries to amatures like myself. For most of the winemakers, the wineries are even their private homes, which just make things even more special. I hope to be able to come down there on a regular basis, and I sure hope that I one day can find a way to live there on a more permanent basis, because to me Langhe is really Heaven on Earth.