Giovanni Corino Barolo Vecchie Vigne 2004
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Robert
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Wine Spectator
A wonderful nose of rose petal, berries and sandalwood turns to lavender and violet. Full-bodied, with ultrafine tannins and a long, caressing finish. Such beauty. Best after 2012. 245 cases made.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2004 Barolo Vecchie Vigne is made from Corino's oldest vines in the Giachini vineyard and aged in 100% new French oak. It is a sweet, explosive wine that bursts from the glass with layers of dark fruit, spices, new leather and French oak, showing notable concentration and richness. The pedigree of the vintage is evident, even if the French oak seems a touch too much. Anticipated maturity: 2010-2019.
Integrated insect and disease control is employed. Sulfur- and copper-based products prevalent. Only manure is used as fertilizer. Spontaneous cover crops (grass cover) are left between the rows of vines. There is minimum use of SO2 in wines in order to prevent oxidation.
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.