Giuseppe Rinaldi Barolo Brunate Riserva 1990
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Robert
Parker
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 1990 Barolo Riserva Brunate is very much a mirror image of the vintage; fat, rich and opulent, with gorgeous inner perfume and superb balance. It is awfully hard to pick a favorite here, as both wines are drop-dead gorgeous. Wow! Despite the wine’s huge fruit the tannins and structure remain formidable, and this is one case where the 1990 may very well age at the same pace as the 1989. In fact, this is one of the few 1990s that comes across as needing more time! In any event, the 1990 Barolo Riserva Brunate is a monumental, towering wine from one of Barolo’s icon producers. Anticipated maturity: 2010-2025.
Giuseppe Rinaldi’s Barolos are among the rarest and most difficult wines to source, as they are rapidly snapped up by the estate’s loyal, long-time clients and rarely appear at auction, especially in meaningful quantities. These two Barolos were breathtaking from the moment they were poured. The colors alone had me practically salivating with anticipation, as I knew the moment I saw these wines emerge from the bottle I was about to encounter something special. For starters, the wines were noticeably fresher than the same wines I have purchased and consumed often over the years, which leads me to believe bottles sent to the US were not treated as well as they deserved to be. Secondly, these 1989 and 1990s are the very rare Brunate-only Riserva, a wine Rinaldi no longer produces (officially). Long macerations, no temperature control in the cellar and extended aging in casks continue to be the rule here, and when Rinaldi gets it right, as he did in 1989 and 1990, the results are nothing short of extraordinary.
Responsible for some of the most elegant and age-worthy wines in the world, Nebbiolo, named for the ubiquitous autumnal fog (called nebbia in Italian), is the star variety of northern Italy’s Piedmont region. Grown throughout the area, as well as in the neighboring Valle d’Aosta and Valtellina, it reaches its highest potential in the Piedmontese villages of Barolo, Barbaresco and Roero. Outside of Italy, growers are still very much in the experimentation stage but some success has been achieved in parts of California. Somm Secret—If you’re new to Nebbiolo, start with a charming, wallet-friendly, early-drinking Langhe Nebbiolo or Nebbiolo d'Alba.
The center of the production of the world’s most exclusive and age-worthy red wines made from Nebbiolo, the Barolo wine region includes five core townships: La Morra, Monforte d’Alba, Serralunga d’Alba, Castiglione Falletto and the Barolo village itself, as well as a few outlying villages. The landscape of Barolo, characterized by prominent and castle-topped hills, is full of history and romance centered on the Nebbiolo grape. Its wines, with the signature “tar and roses” aromas, have a deceptively light garnet color but full presence on the palate and plenty of tannins and acidity. In a well-made Barolo wine, one can expect to find complexity and good evolution with notes of, for example, strawberry, cherry, plum, leather, truffle, anise, fresh and dried herbs, tobacco and violets.
There are two predominant soil types here, which distinguish Barolo from the lesser surrounding areas. Compact and fertile Tortonian sandy marls define the vineyards farthest west and at higher elevations. Typically the Barolo wines coming from this side, from La Morra and Barolo, can be approachable relatively early on in their evolution and represent the “feminine” side of Barolo, often closer in style to Barbaresco with elegant perfume and fresh fruit.
On the eastern side of the Barolo wine region, Helvetian soils of compressed sandstone and chalks are less fertile, producing wines with intense body, power and structured tannins. This more “masculine” style comes from Monforte d’Alba and Serralunga d’Alba. The township of Castiglione Falletto covers a spine with both soil types.
The best Barolo wines need 10-15 years before they are ready to drink, and can further age for several decades.