Barolo 2008: coffee or tea?

Posted on 20 May 2012

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The last two days of tasting at Nebbiolo Prima contrasted newly bottled 2008 Barolos from two geological and stylistic extremes of the appellation: 46 wines from La Morra, the warmest village with the richest soil and a bastion of modernist cappuccino Barolo as I described last year; and 33 from Serralunga d’Alba, home to austere, tannic, ageworthy wines from poor limestone soils.

Serralunga has consistently made the best impression at these tastings (see last year) and this year was no different. No matter if the vintage is as hot and dry as 2007 or as temperate and balanced as 2008, the wines in general show good freshness, fine fruit, and a better quality of tannins than those from other place. In fact while I was put off by the excessive, drying tannins of many 2008 Barolos this year, those of Serralunga wines seemed juicy (more reminiscent of well-brewed black tea than raw oak) and fine-grained and offered much hope for improvement rather than disgust and distrust. Barolo has many grand cru level vineyards such as Cannubi, Brunate or Bussia but I think in recent years, vineyards in Serralunga such as Margheria, Cerretta, Prapò, Lazzarito and Vigna Rionda have really established themselves as the benchmark for great Barolo.

[slideshow]

There weren’t many great wines on the blind tasting, however, and I was left with a somewhat lukewarm impression of several long-time favourites such as Paolo Manzone, Giovanni Rosso, Giacomo Ascheri and Luigi Pira. Clearly the 2008s will require longer ageing than 2007s or 2005s, so for the time being I’ll give them the benefit of a doubt. Those wines that made a good impression today are shown on the slideshow above.

On the La Morra front, I’m happy to report that the wines are considerably better than the 2007s. It is logical that a cooler vintage would succeed better here, and many La Morra wines were balanced and attractive, with noticeably less creamy new oak than last year. No more cappuccino, therefore, though a number of overextracted wines that are challenging to drink at this stage. Perhaps my favourite wine was, surprisingly, Ciabot Berton – but not their cru Roggeri bottling that I tasted vertically the other day. The steal of the vintage.

Disclosure

My trip to Piedmont including flights, accommodation and wine tasting programme is sponsored by the Albeisa association of wine producers.