Bruno Giacosa's Falletto di Serralunga: A tasting of selected vintages (La Pizza Fresca, NYC)

The announcement of Bruno Giacosa's death hit higher on the scale for me as I had attended a tasting of selected Giacosa wines at La Pizza Fresca just two weeks prior. That tasting, led by Levi Dalton of I'll Drink to That fame, covered four instances of each of his Falletto MGA Barolo offerings. The wines, and the accompanying dishes, are shown below. A description of the terroir precedes the discussion of the tasting.

Falletto
The MGA is illustrated in strawberry in the figure below. The Le Rocche del Falletto portion is shown as a golden wedge to the north.

Giacosa made his wines with purchased fruit until he bought the "majestic" Falletto vineyard in 1982. This vineyard, it is widely agreed, became the source of one of his greatest Barolos. The Giacosa formula for great vineyards is: (i) high hill country positioning, (ii) south to southwest sun exposure, and (iii) amphitheatre-like vineyards; Falletto fits this profile almost perfectly.

The Giacosa wines from this vineyard are labeled Falletto (white label) and Rocche del Falletto (from four south-facing plots on the upper slopes of the vineyard. The Rocche del Falletto plots support the crus oldest vines (35+ years) grown in clay and calcareous soils.

The Riservas spend an additional 6 months in wood -- and an additional year in bottle -- over the white labels.

Vintage Conditions
The table below shows the vintage conditions for each of the years from which wines were drawn for the tasting.

Vintage	Falletto	Le Rocche del Falletto	Le Rocche del Falletto Riserva	Vintage Conditions (as per Jancis Robinson)
1998	X	X		More structure and potential than 1997; some very fine elegant wines
1999		X		Very good quality. Voluptuous Barolo and Barbaresco; recalls 1997
2000	X		X	Very good partly thanks to a heatwave from mid-August to mid-September. Nebbiolo exceptional with excellent acidity, ripeness, and great flavor definition. For the long term
2001	X		X	Excellent quality from an early vintage. In the mold of 1999 and 1997 rather than for the long term. No shortage of ripeness or structure; an occasional shortage of acidity
2003		X		Heatwave vintage. Oldest vines managed to withstand the weather and yield some exceptional wines
2004	X		X	Well-balanced wines
2005		X		Reduced crop of decent but unremarkable wines for medium-term drinking
2007			X	Low-yielding year but good quality fruit

The Tasting
After the appropriate amount of social banter, Brad (proprietor of La Pizza Fresca) called us to order. In his opening remarks he mentioned that this tasting had been in the works for several years and that Bruna (Bruno's daughter) could not come due to her father's ill health and her responsibilities. The tasting, however, had Bruna's blessing. He then turned the floor over to Levi Dalton.

Levi then gave attendees a lecture (in the positive sense) on the history of Bruno Giacosa and the Falletto vineyard (he also gave credit to Ken Vastola for being the repository of a lot of the information that he was providing).

Brad and his Nixonian move as MD Savino asks
"What am I doing here?"

Levi asking attendees to go light on him prior
to the start of the event

Paul Tocci (R) thinking about DRC

There were no dogs in the Falletto flight. The 1998 showed violets, florality, red fruits, and baking spices on the nose. Rich, sour finish. Levi said this was a vintage wherein one can find accessibility. He liked it. The 2000 showed spice, red fruit, earth, mushrooms, and a savoriness. Red fruit on the palate. Great weight. Elegant, clean finish. The 2001 had licorice, tobacco, smoke, and sweet red fruit on the nose. Leaner than the preceding wines. Medium-bodied. Red fruit and tar on palate. Lengthy finish. The 2004 showed tamarind, tar, blackberries, spice and a mineral note. Massive. Sour red fruit. Structured. Time is its best friend.

Carpaccio di Manzo

Agnolotti di Zucca

All of the wines in the Rocche del Falletto flight showed well. The 1998 showed tar, roses, strawberry, earth, and soy on the nose. Minerality, balance and a lengthy finish. The 1999 showed dark cherries, roses, tar, earth, and balsamic notes. Dark fruits on the palate preceding a lengthy finish. The 2003 belied its vintage. Ripe fruit, tar, and herbs on the nose but balanced. The 2005 showed dried rose petals tar, and licorice on the nose. Savory with drying tannins. Lengthy finish.

Pizza Margherita

A dark, rich power, along with lengthy finishes, seemed to be the hallmark of the Rocche del Falletto Riservas. In addition, the 2000 showed licorice, herbs, and mint on the nose and well integrated tannins on the palate. The 2001 showed sweet red fruit and an earthiness on the nose, the former of which was evident on the palate along with great texture and balance. The 2004 had similar nasal characteristics as the 2001 along with more traditional Barolo characteristics and herbs. The 2007 was redolent with cherry and tobacco notes.

This was a high-quality tasting both in terms of the wines on offer and the job done by Levi. Bruno Giacosa wines are legendary; and they are legendary for a reason. So there was no surprise there.

This was the first tasting that I had attended where Levi was honchoing and I was pleased. Levi has a self-deprecating personality -- both in terms of speech and mannerisms -- but that disappears once he is in front of an audience and begins to delve into this area which he is obviously passionate about. This was a terroir tasting as presented by Levi. While many presenters see wine dinners as an opportunity to say a few words between dishes, Levi expounded on the terroir of Falletto Bruno Giacosa, and the wines at great length. It was superlative.

Levi was ably assisted by Eric Guido (Morrell) who dutifully held up a map at one point during the tasting but, more importantly, tasted through all the wines prior to the start of the event to ensure that only quality bottles made it through.

©Wine -- Mise en abyme

The Barolo Zone by the numbers

The raw data presented in Masnaghetti's Barolo MGA provides an opportunity for a more detailed comparative analysis of the Barolo subzones. I attempt such an analysis in this post.

Methodology
The relevant data were entered into a spreadsheet with columns being associated with subzones and rows associated with relevant characteristics. Some of the information provided in the Results comes directly from Masnaghetti (MGAs, for example), while others come from summations of columns and/or rows, averaging of columns and/or rows, and calculations of ratios. All calculations were completed using the embedded spreadsheet tools.

Results
The chart below shows the distribution of wineries in the Barolo Zone. A total of 246 wineries are shown across the zone when the Masnaghetti numbers are summed. There is an average of 41 wineries per subzone, that average being padded significanty by the La Morra (62 wineries, 25% of the total) and Monforte d'Alba (53 wineries, 22% of total) contributions.

Chart1. Wineries in the Barolo Zone, by subzone. A total of 246
wineries and an average of 41 per subzone.

Chart 2 below shows the distribution of MGAs (cru-equivalents) across subzones. Barolo, La Morra, and Serralunga d'Alba have almost similar numbers followed by Castiglione Falletto with approximately half of their MGA totals. All of the remaining subzones fall into the 11-or-less category.

Chart 2. MGAs in the Barolo Zone, by subzone. A total of 177 MGAs
and an average of 29.5 MGAs per subzone.

Chart 3 shows surface hectares by subzone. La Morra and Monforte d'Alba are markedly larger than the other subzones but, if you look at Chart 2, has fewer MGAs than La Morra and Serralunga d'Alba, giving an indication that its MGA must be hefty.

Chart 3. Surface hectares by subzone. A total of 8,084.84 ha across all
subzones and an average of 847.47 ha/subzone.

Chart 4 shows the area under vine by wine and total on the left side of the chart and the percent of each subzone under vine on the right side. The numbers used here are from Masnaghetti's 2013 data. A total of 2,426.83 ha is under vine in the zone with an average of 437.81 under vine per subzone. A total of 1,984.17 ha is planted to Nebbiolo for Barolo with an average of 330.70 ha per subzone planted similarly.

Chart 4. Area under vine by variety on left and percent of each subzone under vine to the right.

Chart 5 shows that with the exception of Monforte d'Alba (29.77%), Novello (34.32%) and Roddi (45.75%), all of the subzones devote in excess of 50% of their surface area to the growing of grape vines. In the case of Castiglione Falletto, the percent devoted to grape-growing exceeds 100% and I am unsure as to whether this is an anomaly or a mistake on the part of Masnaghetti in presenting the numbers. I will pursue this with Mr. Masnaghetti at next year's La Festa del Barolo.

Chart 5. Percent under vine by subzone

Chart 6 shows areas devoted to the varying wine types as a percent of the areas under vine. Barolo is far and away the prime wine but there is not insignificant contributions from the other wine types in the Barolo, Castiglione Falletto, La Morra, Serralunga d'Alba, and Verduno subzones.

Chart 6. Varieties planted as a percent of land under vine.

All of the Masnaghetti caveats concerning the data carry through to this exercise. Also, the reader is reminded that averages are just that and can be skewed by extremes at both ends of the scale.

©Wine -- Mise en abyme

Massolino: "Family-Style" Barolos

Sunday October 14th was the last day of the Decanter Piedmont Reader Weekend; and we were not happy about that. We had had a great time to date visiting wineries, speaking to proprietors, eating great food, and drinking great wine; and we did not want it to end.  Well, pouting would not help.  We had a full day of activities still ahead of us, beginning with a morning winery tour and tasting with Massolino estate in Serralunga d'Alba.

Serralunga d'Alba is a small, medieval village in the Langhe region of Piedmont that is 7100 meters long, 1800 meters wide at its widest point, sits on a hill 414 meters above sea level, and serves as the eastern flank of the Barolo wine production zone.  According to massolini.it, Serralunga d'Alba is one of only three of the 11 Barolo communes that are contained in their entirety within the production zone (the remaining two are Barolo and Castiglione Falletto).

According to Gambero Rosso (Serralunga Barolo: The unrushable wine; gamberorosso.it), Serralunga d'Alba has "compact, sandstone-based soils dating from the Helvetian period."  These soils are high in sand, limestone, iron, phosphorous, and potassium and, as a result, produce wines that are intense and structured and that need time to mature.

When we arrived at the Massolino Cantina after our trip from the hotel, we were greeted in the courtyard by a smiling Franco Massolino who proceeded, during the course of an introductory "seminar" in the courtyard, and continuing dialogue during the course of our walking tour, to detail the estate's philosophy and practices.

The Massolino winery was created by Giovanni Massolino in 1896 and all through the years it has been operated as a family enterprise with brothers Franco and Roberto, enologists both, managing the current incarnation.  The style of wine espoused by the family is a pure expression of Nebbiolo which demonstrates a balance between power and excellence.  Franco refers to this style as "classic" and sees aging in large barrels as a key enabler of that style because the barrels respect and protect the classic bouquet of Nebbiolo.  There was an idea in the market, according to Franco, that consumers would like a wine that was dark in color and some winemakers began to use barriques for aging in order to acquire this darkening effect.  That is not classic Nebbiolo and the decision was made by the estate in 2006 to return to its roots and only age Barolo in large bottes.

Massolino is focused on the production of the highest quality wines possible and, towards that end, grows all of its own grapes. The principal estate vineyards are detailed in the table below.

The grape varieties planted at Massolino vineyards include Barbera, Dolcetto, Nebbiolo, Moscato, and Chardonnay.  The estate began making Chardonnay wines in 1991 based largely on a sense that the variety would thrive in the region's chalky soil.

Fermentation is carried out in resin-lined cement tanks or stainless-steel tanks.  Cement tanks are desirable for their ability to maintain purity of fruit and freshness, according to Franco.  He also mentioned that 10 to 15 years ago, consultants had been recommending deserting cement tanks for stainless steel.  Massolino had not gone down that path and now cement is back in vogue.  Their choice is to use cement vats and when those are not available then use stainless.

Large Slovenian oak casks are used for aging all the wines with the exception of the Chardonnay and Barbera which are aged in barriques.

After our walk-through of the winery, we repaired to the tasting room to sample some of the estate's offerings:

• 2011 Chardonnay -- The grapes were picked a little early in the cycle.  Some of the fruit was aged in cement and some in oak and then blended. Golden yellow color. Sweet white flower and vanilla nose.  A rich creaminess resulting from 9 months of battonage.  Chalky minerality and spiciness.  Persistent finish.
• 2011 Dolcetto -- Stainless steel and cement in search of a pure expression of fruit.  Cherries.  Good body. Spicy. Fresh. Soft tannins. Long finish.  Franco felt that this wine would be great with appetizers but felt that the freshness and tannins would allow it to be drunk with the entire meal.
• 2011 Barbera -- Fermented in stainless steel and cement. Turpentine and petrol on the noseRed pepper and rust on the palate.  Tight and short on the finish.
• 2010 Barbera -- 5000-bottle production.  Aged for 18 months in barrique.  Extracted color and more appealing nose.  Strawberry and spice.  RIch with good acidity.
• 2010 Langhe Nebbiolo -- Violet, green flower, dill, marine, spiciness.  Freshness and purity of fruit.  Non-corrosive tannins.
• 2010 Barolo Classico -- Translucent. Sweet tar, tobacco, and hint of violets.  Molasses on the palate along with weightiness, texture, and balance.
• 2007 Margheria -- Perfumed nose.  Fresh, pure fruit. Elegant with a long finish.
• 2007 Parafada -- Closed.
• 2007 Parussi -- Tar. Green bean. Non-complex.Chalky minerality. Long finish.
• 2005 Riserva Vigna Rosada -- Complex. Bean. Stale beer. Elegance.Late-arriving tannin. Great acidity with a long mineral finish.

This winery's focus on quality was evident in Franco's conversation as well as the look and feel of the surroundings.  This is an estate that knows the type of wines that it wants to produce and is doing so to the tune of 120,000 bottles annually.  The winery has explored what modernity has to offer and have adopted the things that have improved the quality of the operations but have discarded those which have led away from what they perceive to be the traditional style (the family style) of Barolo.


©Wine -- Mise en abyme

The Langhe (Piemonte, Italy) wine region

The third annual Decanter Reader trip (Great Piemonte Reader Weekend) placed a small band of intrepid wine enthusiasts deep into the wilds of the Langhe region to test their resolve and ability to survive an avalanche of information, food, and wines of the region.  This post is intended to provide the lens through which all future posts on the topic should be viewed.

Piemonte is one of the most highly regarded Italian wine regions, a reputation due, in large part, to the stellar wines produced in its Langhe sub-region. The Langhe (tongues of land) is separated from the Roero sub-region by the Tanaro River and is characterized by long, steep-sided hill slopes that are separated one from the other by a series of narrow valleys.

The climate in the Langhe is continental with warm Mediterranean air from the Ligurian Sea moderating somewhat the effects of cold air coming off the Alps to the north.  Weather varies from year to year resulting in appreciable vintage variation.  Hailstorms are an appreciable risk with the potential for associated crop loss.

When the Padano Sea retreated from what is today's Langhe, it left behind layers of clay, calcareous marl, blue marl, tufa, sand, and sulfur-bearing chalk.  This soil is credited with bestowing structure and finesse on the areas full-bodied reds.

The primary grape varieties grown in Langhe are shown in the table below. 

Nebbiolo, the variety used in the region's famed Barolo and Barbaresco wines, is considered Italy's most noble grape.  Its name is thought to derive from the Italian word for fog, a condition which is common in Barolo during the September-October maturation period of the variety. The grape requires the warmest sites in order to ensure full ripening. There is significantly more Barbera planted in Langhe than Nebbiolo. This variety is vigorous, high in acid, and resistant to fungal disease and its retiring aroma (plus acidity) renders it an excellent blending wine. When cropped for quality this grape can show aromas of red fruits, currants, and blackberries.  Dolcetto -- the little sweet one -- is an early ripening variety which is low in acid but high in tannins.  It is however, considered much more approachable than its rich cousins and serves as the everyday drinking wine of the Piedmontese.  This variety is characterized by aromas of ripe blackberries and plums.  Moscato Bianco is a white grape that is the fourth most planted variety in Italy.  Known by a number of names, the resulting wines tend to be fizzy or sparkling and produce aromas of lychee and rose petals.

Barolo DOCG Soils
Barolo wines are produced from Nebbiolo grapes grown on the hillsides to the southwest of Alba in five key communes and parts of five sub-zones.  The substrates of the hills are marine sedimentary deposits that formed in the Miocene epoch (23 - 5 million years ago). These deposits are composed primarily of white- to blue-colored compacted marl and calcareous clay and are more- or less-resistant to water penetration depending on the sand-to-clay ratio.

The Barolo zone is divided into two soil subzones based on the age of the deposits. To the west, the soils around the towns of Barolo and La Morra are composed of a calcareous (limestone-rich) marl with high levels of sand -- referred to as Tortonian (11 - 7 million years ago) -- that yields aromatic, elegant, medium-bodied wines which evolve in the bottle earlier than their counterparts.  The wines from the Barolo commune are thought to be more complex, and broader in texture, than the more perfumed and graceful La Morra wines. 

The Langhian (until the 1960s, Helvetian) soil around the communes of Serralunga d'Alba, Monforte d'Alba, and Castiglione Falletto was deposited between 16 and 13 million years ago. The soils of this zone are mostly calcareous clay marls with little sand content and produces a wine that is more structured and requires longer aging.

Serralunga d'Alba

Serralunga d'Alba is a small, medieval village in the Langhe region of Piedmont that is 7100 meters long, 1800 meters wide at its widest point, sits on a hill 414 meters above sea level, and serves as the eastern flank of the Barolo wine production zone.  According to massolini.it, Serralunga d'Alba is one of only three of the 11 Barolo communes that are contained in their entirety within the production zone (the remaining two are Barolo and Castiglione Falletto).

According to Gambero Rosso (Serralunga Barolo: The unrushable wine; gamberorosso.it), Serralunga d'Alba has "compact, sandstone-based soils dating from the Helvetian period."  These soils are high in sand, limestone, iron, phosphorous, and potassium and, as a result, produce wines that are intense and structured and that need time to mature.

Click here for a detailed map of the Barolo wine-growing region.

Barbaresco DOCG

Barbaresco wines are produced from grapes grown on the steep, pre-alpine hillsides of four small villages located to the northeast of Alba.  The grapes are grown on limestone rich marl soils on south-facing exposures with elevation in excess of 200 meters.  The climate in the Barbaresco growing area is warmer and drier than in Barolo, allowing the grapes to ripen earlier and the resulting wines to be less tannic and more approachable.  Barbaresco wines are known for their rich, spicy flavors and perfumed sweetness.

A summary of the DOCG and DOC wines produced in Langhe is provided in the table below.


©Wine -- Mise en abyme