Wine Advisor
Elio Grasso, Barolo Riserva Runcot 2008
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Monica Larner
The 2008 Barolo Riserva Rüncot is an exceptional wine that is only made in the best years. It was produced in 2008, 2010 and 2013. The wine undergoes a 40-day maceration time with four years in oak and one more year of bottle aging. The results are sublime and generous. Riserva Rüncot opens to a beautifully tempered and expressive bouquet that exhibits elements of wild berry, forest floor, candied fruit, licorice, cola and dried ginger. The balsamic signature is particularly beautiful and elegant. Smooth and silky tannins denote the mouthfeel and carry the wine forward over the palate. This is one of the top releases from Piedmont this year.
Reviewed by: Stephen Tanzer
(aged for 46 months in new barriques): Good full, deep red. Deeply pitched aromas of red berries, mocha, violet and dried flowers, with a suggestion of roasted plum. Big, plush and very ripe but also classically dry, with subtle floral, spice and licorice flavors complemented but not overshadowed by deep oak. Finishes very long and spicy, with a repeating note of roasted plum and building sweetness. Very impressive but I'm still of two minds on leaving this so long in new barriques. Grasso told me he vinified his 2008s and 2010s with wild yeasts, and the longer maceration times (two months in the case of this Runcot) gave very dry wines. The Runcot Riserva is made with very little sulfiting, and Grasso barely racks his wines, preferring simply to turn the barrels on their sides.
Reviewed by: James Suckling
This is an absolutely fabulous red, with incredible concentration but polish and refinement. It’s full-bodied, with wonderful depth of fruit and length. Complex, with minerals, dark fruits, plums and currants. Speechless. It sends chills up my spine. What a wine. It goes on for minutes. Hard to believe that it’s better than the 2007, but it is. Better in 2020 but so amazing now. Available in February 2015.
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
The 2008 Barolo Riserva Runcot is a drop-dead gorgeous beauty. Smoke, tar, licorice, menthol, plums and spices form a tapestry of undeniable class. The sweet, perfumed fruit typical of the 2008s here is evident in the glass. A rich, sumptuous wine, the 2008 Runcot is fabulous. The 2008 spent 45 months in new French oak, all of which it has handled with superb grace. Even though the Runcot is one of the few Barolos that handles new French oak this well, once again I wonder what it might taste like if aged like the rest of the Grasso Barolos. Dark red/black fruit, spices, new leather and smoke add the last nuances of complexity.
About the Producer
Elio Grasso’s History Born within an old family of Monforte d’Alba with substantial vineyards in the prestigious parts of the town, Grasso may seem destined for a career as a Barolo producer . But instead he chose a different path, at least in the early stages of adult life, choosing to work in the world of finance and living an urban existence that was decidedly different from that of the rural world in which he was born and raised. The wines of Elio Grasso The call of the land, however, eventually proved strong, and the return to Monforte d’Alba was probably only a matter of time. And what he returned to was in fact an impressive patrimony: 18 hectares of vineyards that include first-rate sites such as Chiniera , Casa Matè , and Runcot . Grasso, in fact, just in 1978, decided to ferment and age on his own the grapes of his best plots and was a pioneer in selling both a regular Barolo and also a series of crus . As a producer, Grasso has always been attentive to tradition, but, given the important experiences linked to the numerous generations of his family in the area, he has never wanted to radically transform his wines: both Chiniera and Casa Matè are aged in barrels; only the Runcot , a Riserva , ages in small barrels. Innovation, on the other hand, is represented by two other wines from the line: the excellent Barbera Martina aged in barrels and Educato , a Chardonnay fermented in barrels.
