No Surprises From Piedmont
Top-quality vintages of Nebbiolo just keep on coming
Wine producers in Piedmont sometimes catch themselves looking over their shoulders. With two more excellent vintages in hand—2004 for Barolo and 2005 for Barberesco—it seems like they can do no wrong, yet they can still hardly believe their good luck.
"In 12 years, we have only had one bad year," marvels Giorgio Rivetti, who makes great wine in both Barbaresco and Barolo, referring to 2002. Rivetti attributes the success as much to hard work as to good weather. "We work so much better in the vineyards. For example, in 2004, you could have made a pretty weak wine. We had to cut back grapes three times due to overproduction in the vineyards. 2004 was not a great year—it was a great year for producers who worked hard in the vineyards."
Luciano Sandrone, another top Barolo producer, agrees. "Today, we really don't make bad years anymore. It's so different compared with 20 years [ago]. We pay a lot of attention to the harvest. Everything is ripe and clean. We throw out bad grapes. And we work so much better in the cellars."
Neither vintner is exaggerating. I first visited Piedmont in 1983, and the methodology and dedication now shown in the vineyards and cellars is worlds apart from what I saw that quarter of a century ago. Most winemakers in Piedmont use the most advanced and precise viticultural and enological practices available.
It sounds cliché now, but the Piedmontese know that quality winemaking begins in the vineyard, and few vineyards are as well-kept as those in the hills of the best areas of Barolo and Barbaresco. Along with the region's favorable growing seasons, this is why Piedmont has been so successful in recent years.
The proof is in the bottle. Since our last report ("Piedmont's Atypical Quality," Dec. 15, 2007), I have reviewed nearly 1,000 Piedmont wines in my Tuscan office, focusing on 2004 Barolo and 2005 Barbaresco, along with more recent vintages of Dolcetto and Barbera. (I have also tasted many wines in cellars across the region, but since these on-site tastings are non-blind, they do not constitute formal reviews.) Overall, more than half of the wines in this report earned outstanding ratings (90 or more points on the Wine Spectator 100-point scale).
The biggest success is 2004 Barolo. Of the nearly 300 Barolos from the vintage, more than 160 scored 90 points or higher, with 18 receiving classic ratings (95 to 100 points). The 2004 vintage, which I rate 93 points in Barolo, is better than 2003 and 1999, though it's not up to years such as 2001, 2000, 1997 and 1996, which each achieved amazing quality. (An alphabetical list of all wines tasted for this report is available.)
"You can't hope for much better than 2004," says Bruna Giacosa, daughter of iconic Piedmont winemaker Bruno Giacosa. "2000, 2001 and 2004 are the benchmarks for the region. I wish we had them all the time."
Her family's Bruno Giacosa Barolo Le Rocche del Falletto is the best 2004 Barolo in this report (98 points, $320). It perfectly illustrates how great Nebbiolo gets in this vintage, showing a wonderful purity of fruit, with blackberry, licorice, cherry and mineral on the nose. Full-bodied on the palate, with ultrafine tannins and a very long finish, this is a dense, balanced and beautiful wine, offering precise and focused aromas, fruit and tannins. This balanced quality is what I love about the best 2004s. They are so aromatic, delivering subtle, refined and beautiful fruit and polished tannins. Everything is in the right place.
The vintage, however, is not an across-the-board success. Growers who produced too large a crop of grapes made good but slightly diluted wines. To find the best in 2004, I recommend sticking with the top producers. They are the ones you can trust to have kept their grape yields to a minimum and fermented and aged their wines at optimal levels.
For example, Pio Boffa of Pio Cesare cut grape bunches away from the vines three times during the summer. Typically, he only has to green harvest once or twice at most. But the vines were much more vigorous in 2004, partly reflecting the vineyards' natural rebound from the scorching growing season and subsequent short yields of 2003.
"Despite the big crop in 2004, we were astonished how great the grapes were at harvest," Boffa says. His Barolo, one of the most readily available in the U.S. market, is always among the best values. I scored the 2004 Pio Cesare bottling 94 points ($62).
The 2005 vintage in Piedmont presented more challenges than 2004, with intermittent rain and hail in some vineyards. But, as in 2004, the best grapegrowers in Barolo and Barbaresco still made exceptional wines. I give the 2005 vintage an overall rating of 92 points.
"Every year there are little things," shrugs Roberto Voerzio, whose Barolo vineyards lie below the town of La Morra. "In 2005, we had some hail and we had heavy rain at times that produced some rot, but we worked well in the vineyards and made some exceptional wines."
Like a number of other top producers, Voerzio made much less wine in 2005 due to the hail that ripped through his vineyards during the growing season. He made none of his famous single-vineyard Barolos—Capalot, Sarmassa or Rocche—and his La Serra produced only 1,600 bottles.
I have tasted dozens of 2005 Barolos, both in barrel and bottle samples, and the wines are slightly less aromatic than the 2004s, but are fruitier in general. Stylistically, they remind me of the 2000s and 1997s, though they are not at the same quality level. They will be coming to the market next year.
Hail was less of a factor in Barbaresco in 2005, allowing a number of producers to equal their efforts from 2004, if not surpass them. I found many outstanding wines. Of the approximately 90 2005 Barbarescos I tasted, more than two-thirds earned 90 or more points. They are wines that are already very beautiful to drink, with bright ripe fruit character and soft tannins. That said, I would still give them two to four years of bottle age to come together.
The top three bottlings—the Bruno Giacosa Rabajà (95, $NA), the Bruno Rocca Rabajà (95, $100) and the Ceretto Asili (95, $135)—are all from the same area in Barbaresco.
"I really like 2005 for Barbaresco," says Bruno Rocca, whose Barbaresco Rabajà is consistently a benchmark wine for the region. "It seems a little like 2000. It is a wine that you can drink now, but can also age."
Rocca says that 2005 didn't have the feel of an outstanding vintage at the outset. Sporadic rain was a factor throughout the growing season, but it was generally warm and sunny. He thought the showers in September might swell the grapes and dilute their quality. "But in the end, it didn't happen," he observes. "We actually made about 20 percent to 30 percent less wine in the end."
I am not sure the 2006 vintage will be at the same quality level. From the barrel samples of Nebbiolo I have tasted, 2006 seems very much in the style of 2004, but slightly less concentrated and structured. The Barberas from the vintage are not quite on par with the 2005s, though there are 20 that rate outstanding.
Looking ahead, 2007 could be the best of these four vintages, with reds that combine the aromatic intensity of 2004 with the generous fruit and tannin structure of 2005.
"For me, 2007 is really the best of the [past few] vintages," says Orlando Pecchenino, who made his reputation with Dolcetto but since 2003 has produced an excellent Barolo. "The Nebbiolo ripened to perfection. The growing season was very slow and beautiful. It was really great. It was really extraordinary for Nebbiolo."
Try some of the 2007 Dolcettos or Barberas on the market to experience the quality of the vintage. The best are fruit-forward, clean and fresh. They are pretty wines for early drinking. I am looking forward to following this vintage in the future. Whites, such as Arneis and Gavi, as well as sweet Moscatos, are of equally good quality in 2007.
It's been a long time since Piedmont had a string of bad vintages—you'd have to go back to the early 1990s. Producers increasingly know how to manage their vineyards and grapes to compensate for the vagaries of Mother Nature. This all means consistently good-quality Piedmont wines for the consumer. And these northern Italian vintners will continue to be surprised by, and grateful for, their good fortune.
European bureau chief James Suckling is Wine Spectator's lead taster on the wines of Piedmont.
