Tag Archives: giacomo conterno

Wine Moments 2019

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Blindtasting

Quite a few blind tasting’s take place throughout the year. It’s how I learn. And it’s fun. Looking back on the year, two tastings stick out.

A 2014 lineup with three Barolo:
Trediberri Rocche dell’Annunizata: this was a little closed on the nose at first, but after a while a bouquet of red fruits appeared. The wine had good acidity, good balance and an excellent finish. For a “young” barolo it was very fresh and approachable.
Bartolo Mascarello Barolo: Notes of red fruits, strawberries and some spices. High acidity, round tannins and well balanced.
Fratelli Alessandria Monvigliero: Dark fruits, some ripe fruits on the nose. Good acidity, fresh tannins and a good finish. This bottle had been open for about 24 hours (with the cork “put back in”) so it was very approachable.

A more “diverse” lineup:
Elio Altare Barolo 2004: When tasting this blind, it still had so much “oumph” that it could have been mistaken for a fresh nebbiolo! This was wine of the night for me.
Giacomo Conterno Barbera Vigna Francia 2014: I have always thought the barbera from Contero has a very distinct nose, a nose very different from other barbera’s. This was really hard to figure out next to the other wines.
A Chianti Classico 1993: Curveball! Could tell this wine had some age, with notes of toffee both on the nose and in the mouth. In my opinion, this was past it’s prime. Impossible to identify blind in this lineup.

Wineglasswriter

Vietti Barolo Castiglione 2009

Vietti never ceases to amaze me. After some air, this wine from 2009 (10 years old) blew me away with its fresh fruit, round tannins and unbelievable finish. In my opinion, this wine is not even close to reaching it’s potential!

Ester Canale Rosso Langhe Nebbiolo 2015

This wine “had” to be tried. The new project of Giovanni Rosso gained quite a bit of fame, and I had to see what all the fuss was about. The wine is good. Is it worth the price? Let me put it this way, here are many other wines I would buy before this one. However, it will be very interesting following this project going forward!

Diego Morra Monvigliero

2019 would be the year I discovered quite a few new wineries. One of my favorites is Diego Morra. And one of the wines in their portfolio is a Monvigliero. You might have heard of it. Antonio Galloni gave a 100 points to the Monviglerio of Burlotto in 2013. So it’s safe to say it’s quite famous. And the one from Diego Morra is very good!

Diego Mora Monvigliero 2015 had some truffle and wet soil on the nose, quite strong tannins (typical of this cru), but still very elegant and floral.

New year, new wine adventures

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I have previously shared a sort of wine bucket list, but as it turns out I only checked off 1 out of the 5 items. Thanks to some wonderful friends of mine, I was able to visit with Conterno.

New year, new goals!

In 2019 I want to try a few new things, both restaurants and wineries. Maybe even some new experiences, like hot air ballooning over Barolo or going truffel hunting.

Wineries to try

  • Cappellano
  • F. Rinaldi
  • Giacosa

Restaurants to try

  • La Ciau Del Tornavento
  • Nesto
  • Agnulot

La Bottega del Vino

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One of the things I like to do is ask the “professional” foodies where they go to eat and drink, and I’m rarely disappointed. La Bottega del Vino was recommended by Ciccio from Centro Storico and he was not wrong to recommend this place. I think I spent 20 minutes with the wine list alone, and because the wine list was so amazing I had to first pick the wine and then the food — struggles.

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I went safe with the food: Vitello Tonnato, Raviolo cacio & pepe and a lava cake for dessert. The ravioli was really good, with tons of good flavors. I did not get a picture because I got too excited didn’t have time to take a photo… But it was good! The Vitello Tonnato was also good, but I still prefer the versions in Barolo. And chocholate cake is never a bad idea. So food wise it was a pretty good night!IMG_0120

Now the wine… I know it might be strange to order french wine in Italy but when I saw they had Marc Colin on the wine list I did not have much choice. I think he makes some of the best wines in the world, and even his most “basic” wines are incredible. So you don’t have to break the bank to enjoy a good glass of chardonnay. Apart from Marc Colin they had many other amazing french wines from Matror, Liger-Belair and Domaine Leflaive. In the Piemonte section they had a good selection of Gusieppe Rinaldi, Capellano, Vietti, Cavallotto, Brezza, Gaja and Conterno. I was not disappointed and hope to return here very soon!

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Blurry but the wine was still good 😉

 

Giacomo Conterno

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Finally, a visit to Conterno. This winery has been on the list for quite some time, and I was very happy when the dream became reality. Located in Monforte, it has an amazing view (as you can see above) and the winery is recently renovated, absolutely stunning.

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Roberto Conterno, the grandson of Giacomo, now runs the winery and he gave us the tour (along with a translator). I personally thought his English was good, but none the less… The winery is relatively small, they produce a small quantity of wine, and as of now they only really make 3 different wines, sometimes 4 when they also make the Monfortino. He uses big botti, a “traditionalist”, and all his wines are aged in wood (none in stainless steel).

The tasting consisted of his Barbera and the 2 barolos. Conterno is known for his Francia, that he uses both for his barbera and one of the barolos. I thought the 2014 Barbera Francia was excellent, which is rather strange, because 2014 was a difficult year and the wines have been so so… Roberto joined us for a glass or two, and passionately explained his philosophy. Overall a fantastic visit.

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