Wine Advisor
Elio Grasso, Barolo Riserva Runcot 2010
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Monica Larner
This is such a gorgeous wine. The 2010 Barolo Riserva Rüncot is undeniably beautiful and profound. It's almost hard to know where to start. The wine's appearance is velvety and rich. The bouquet opens to a long playlist of distinct characteristics that immediately remind you of the Langhe. You'll recognize wild cherry with licorice, white truffle, balsam herb and toasted hazelnut. These tones are delivered with just the right intensity. The are compelling, but never overwhelming. The finish offers an exciting succession of tiny detailing. The wine moves over the palate with silky intensity, imparting mineral tones of flint and campfire ash along the way. The persistence can be counted in many long, pleasurable minutes.
Reviewed by: James Suckling
Dried cherries, spices and hints of plums. Full-bodied, juicy and flavorful. Such depth combined with refinement. A beauty now.
Reviewed by: James Suckling
Dried cherries, spices and hints of plums. Full-bodied, juicy and flavorful. Such depth combined with refinement. A beauty now.
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
Grasso's 2010 Barolo Riserva Rüncot is fabulous. The flavors are bright, sculpted and finely nuanced throughout, with plenty of sweet red cherry, cranberry, mint and chalk overtones. Aging in French oak (all untoasted) gives the wine its signature feel and texture. I have seen the Rüncot develop beautifully with time in bottle. I imagine that will be the case here was well. Gianluca Grasso has really honed in a super-appealing style that straddles classic and more modern styles effortlessly.
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.
