Tasting Report: More Great Barolos Out In Market!

I tasted close to 100 Barolos this summer while in Italy both at home and in wineries and cellars in the region, and it makes for a good review. It follows my tasting report early this year of about 200 Barolos. The most notable tastings for this report were at the cellars of Giacomo Conterno and Bruno Giacosa. The top wines from both are amazing - particularly the Giacomo Conterno Monfortino 2010 and Bruno Giacosa Barolo Rocche delle Falleto 2011. I will not publish the tasting notes of both this year as their releases will be in the future.

But there are plenty of other great Barolos now on the market, or just coming out this fall, featured here.

Most of the Barolos I tasted this summer, in general, were 2011s and the vintage continues to please in every sense of the word. I think it is a better overall vintage than 2010, which was a slightly overhyped year because of inconsistency, but the vintage sill produced some amazing bottles.

The fact Bruno Giacosa didn't bottle any 2010 Barolo underlines this. Producers are obviously not in agreement about which vintage is the better of the two. "The 2011 is one of the best vintages I ever made," said Bruno Giacosa earlier this month in Neive, Italy.

Regardless, there are so many great 2010s out there as well as 2011s.

In any case, the two vintages are distinctly different. The 2010 Barolos continue to be beautifully aromatic, firm and seductively tannic on the palate. Some wonderful nebbiolos were made due to the long growing season. Meanwhile, the 2011s are flamboyant and intense with lots of fruit and ripe tannins underlying the hot growing season. They remind me of 2007, or even the wonderful 2000.

Yet, I have to admit there are some amazing 2010s. For example, I tasted from cask the 2010 Giacomo Conterno Barolo Monfortino and it is potentially a perfect wine. The depth and beauty is phenomenal. I can't wait to taste it again next year. In the meantime, you can find a few bottles of the Giacomo Conterno Barolo Monfortino 2008. It's very close in quality to the 2010 and shows great depth, finesse and length with power.

"The 2008 was a unique year," said Robert Conterno, owner and winemaker of Giacomo Contero, to me earlier in the month. "The harvest was one of the latest ever. We harvested on October 30. I don't think it will ever happen again."

Conterno also notes that he decided not to make a 2011 Monfortino and put all the wine into the Barolo Cascina Francia 2011. It's really great quality. Get it.

But there are a number of other great quality wines I tasted for this second report. Check them out below. I also added the two Gaja single vineyard Langhe reds from 2011 because they are made in the Barolo appelation.

Top photo: Bruno Giacosa tastes a range of his wines in his tasting room this September; Middle photo: Roberto Conterno describes the glory of the 2010 Monfortino in his cellar; bottom photo: Cork of 2008 Giacomo Conterno Barolo Monfortino