WTN: Pio Cesare 1993 Barolo

Here's a tale of two wines.

Maybe 5 years ago, we were just getting seriously into Barolo and picked up a bottle of 1998 Pio Cesare "Ornato" Barolo at a not too bad price of £30. We took it to NZ for a family visit (The brains of the operation is a Kiwi). It was tight, astringent seemingly lacking in fruit and was verging on painful to drink. It may have been corked, but it didn't smell of taint and maybe the fruit was there (and not TCA scalped) behind the wall of tannin. A huge disappointment.

Anyway, roll the calendar forward to tonight. I picked this bottle up at auction in a mixed case which contained a right mixed bag. Some were expected to be awful and were surprisingly ok (for instance a 1996 Langhe Favorita was still alive, albeit not with any great added complexity, and the 1998 Masi Bardolino which was light but held itself very well). Others lived exactly up to expectations, getting to work cleaning the sink. Only 2-3 of the wines in that lot remain, but one is the (hopefully) star lot and what will probably be my first taste of Giacomo Conterno Monfortino - I hope it's to my tastes!

Anyway back to Pio Cesare and tonight's wine. Perhaps this is an object lesson in finding the right time in a wine's maturation to drink it. Not a great vintage by any stretch, but this felt like as close to peak as it will get and it gave real pleasure.

1993 Pio Cesare Barolo - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo (9/20/2008)
The relatively light colour of this wine is moving from red towards maroon-tawny and there's similar evidence of maturity at the rim.

On the nose it's subtle but persistent, showing a sweet leathery edge to the fruit, and on swirling the nose brings this wine right into classical Nebbiolo territory (Tar and roses if you like). The palate is beautifully balanced with acidity in tight support, almost moulded around the fruit - never sticking out but always sufficient. There's that quite typical Nebbiolo sweetness to the aged fruit, but counterbalanced by the acid and soft tannins. Subtlety very much in evidence here yet there is complexity and length, but without great intensity. It really is a wine that you savour the finish though.

For me this wine is 'in the slot' and if you have any I'd recommend drinking it anytime over the next 3-4 years, but it may even go longer, but I doubt better.

regards

Ian

[David M. Bueker]

Thanks for hte note. I love traditional Barolo, but only buy it one bottle at a time & then just throw it in the cellar waiting for it to mature. Of course that means I almost never drink the stuff.

Good to hear that the basic Barolo from 1993 was in good shape, Ian. It reminded me that I have a sort of forgotten bottle of the 1989 Ornato somewhere in my cellar. I guess it is about time to open it up.
Cheers,
Anders

Anders, I have an `89 Cannubi from Oddero. Gonna stand it up now!

Ian, any opinion welcome. Whats that? Pray!

Thanks for that nice note , Ian. You encourage me to pull out a Barolo next time I have a suitable dish; soon, I guess, as we are in game season.

1993 was an under-rated year, IMHO. I discovered this at a hilltop hotel's open air restaurant overlooking Alba http://www.santavittoria.org/default.asp?language=uk in the late 90s when Aldo Conterno's Cicala, I think, was delicious; young for a "great" year but delicious in this "little" year. I have discovered others since.

Incidentally I hear disturbing reports that Aldo Conterno is becoming more "modern" as the new generation takes over.

Bob
Should be good! Oddero seem to get a bit of bad press, but a good vineyard and a traditional producer should mean it would be ageing well - a well regarded vintage as well.
Hope you enjoy it
regards
Ian

Aldo Conterno is now more modern, an unfortunate change that I believe occurred in the mid or late 90s.

On the other hand the general tendency appears to be away from small wood; I am told that there is a waiting list for large barrels now. Even some of the former extreme modernists have changed to botte.

I have heard nothing but good things about Oddero from colleagues who know the area well, and the '89 should be as much fun as you can have with your clothes on now.

1993 was an under-rated year, IMHO.

I agree, every time I taste one I kick myself for not buying more (I had a few, but they are now all gone).

Incidentally I hear disturbing reports that Aldo Conterno is becoming more "modern" as the new generation takes over.

While I don't have any record from drinking older wines from Aldo Conterno, I don't think their Barolo crus (that is Gran Bussia, Cicala, Colonnello and Romirasco) don't see any new oak at all. Giacomo Conterno, one of the three brothers now in charge, was very firm on this when we visited him a year ago. their Langhe Nebbiolo "Il Favot" definitely does, but that is their only Nebbiolo that does. While they don't seem to be taliban producers, as Giacomo called the ultra traditionalists, I definitely would not call their style very modern.
Cheers,
Anders

Giacomo Conterno, one of the three brothers now in charge,

I can see lots of confusion with this name in the future

I don't know what the Aldo Conterno winery says about there maturation method, and their reputation doesn't seem to have suffered, but I've tasted new oak in the cru wines in the last five years. I note that the generally very well-written piece on Barolo in Wikipedia says that the winery should be considered modern since about '96.

There was new oak in the 93 Barolo from Aldo Conterno which I praised, but it was a non-obtrusive gentle patina.

I don't know what the Aldo Conterno winery says about there maturation method, ..., but I've tasted new oak in the cru wines in the last five years.

Well, I do know what they say and, as I wrote, they claim no oak in their Barolo crus. I try not to regard people I meet as liars, so I believe in what Giacomo told me. However, I quite agree that there is an element in the taste of their wines that I have thought comes from the use of new wood, but I also realize that my smelling and tasting senses are not to be regarded as absolute analysis instruments. Furthermore, I would not classify their wines as being very modern in style, in particular not after having visited several more evident modernists last year, such as Conterno Fantino, Elio Altare and Elio Grasso. Still, not really old fashioned either. Rather somewhere in between. And very good.
Ciao,
Anders

Well, I do know what they say and, as I wrote, they claim no oak in their Barolo crus.

Now that is a surprise. Their website says "big Slavonian oak barrels" so I suppose that they mean no NEW barrels.

Furthermore, I would not classify their wines as being very modern in style, in particular not after having visited several more evident modernists last year, such as Conterno Fantino, Elio Altare and Elio Grasso. Still, not really old fashioned either. Rather somewhere in between. And very good.
Ciao,
Anders

Exactly my thoughts about all of their wines which I have tasted the last of which was 2001. Is your experience more recent, Anders, and, if so, are you saying that you do not agree that their style is getting more modern?

Well, I do know what they say and, as I wrote, they claim no oak in their Barolo crus.

Now that is a surprise. Their website says "big Slavonian oak barrels" so I suppose that they mean no NEW barrels.

Sorry, Tim, that was an error from my side. I should have written that they use no new barriques. Whether there might happen to be any new big barrels at times, I can't tell, but the amount of oak taste they would impose, even from a new barrel is, I believe, small.

Furthermore, I would not classify their wines as being very modern in style, in particular not after having visited several more evident modernists last year, such as Conterno Fantino, Elio Altare and Elio Grasso. Still, not really old fashioned either. Rather somewhere in between. And very good.
Ciao,
Anders

Exactly my thoughts about all of their wines which I have tasted the last of which was 2001. Is your experience more recent, Anders, and, if so, are you saying that you do not agree that their style is getting more modern?

Yes, Tim, as I wrote above, I don't have any record from drinking older wines from Aldo Conterno and with older I mean before 2001. So I can't have any opinion about any change of style. Still, I'd like to stress again that there were several producers that we visited last year whose wines definitley were much more modern.
Cheers, Anders