Giacomo Conterno, Barolo Riserva Monfortino 1993

robert_parker92

Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.

The light garnet/ruby-colored 1993 Barolo Monfortino is undoubtedly the wine of the vintage for this challenging year. Like all Conterno wines, it was bottled without fining and filtration, thus preserving its full terroir and varietal characteristics. It boasts a knock-out aromatic profile of rose petals, tar, new saddle leather, sweet, jammy black cherries, licorice, and raspberries, decent acidity, sweet tannin, copious alcohol, wonderful density, a fleshy texture, and beautiful harmony as well as elegance. It can be drunk now and over the next 15 years. Look for this effort to be one of the great sleeper wines of Piedmont given the fact that most 1993 Barolos are austere and hard-edged. Importer: Vin Divino, Chicago, IL; tel. (773) 334-6700

robert_parker91

Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni

1993 Barolo Riserva Monfortino—Dense ruby with some bricking. The youthful 1993 presents a delicate yet captivating nose along with flavors of slightly evolved red fruits with good length and balance although the wine’s significant tannins render it less than totally expressive today. This will require additional bottle age to integrate better. 91+? points/drink after 2008, tasted 05/05 Conterno makes two Barolos both from the Cascina Francia vineyard, one of the great monopole sites in Piedmont. The vineyard was purchased by Giovanni Conterno in 1974 and measures six hectares. Cascina Francia is made in a traditional style, with natural yeasts and temperature-controlled fermentation and maceration lasting 3-4 weeks. The wines are aged in large Slavonian oak casks and are bottled in the summer of the fourth year following the harvest. In great vintages a special selection of the best fruit is made in the vineyard and that fruit becomes the Barolo Riserva Monfortino, perhaps the single most iconic wine in all of Piedmont. Monfortino is also made with natural yeasts, although fermentation/maceration time is longer, lasting 4-5 weeks, and is carried out without the aid of temperature control. Current vintages are aged seven years in cask, but past vintages have seen as much as 10 years of cask aging before being released. Monfortino is legendary for its extraordinary longevity, which is usually measured in decades.

vinous94

Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni

Conterno’s 1993 Barolo Riserva Monfortino has developed into a sensual Barolo. The tannins have now melted away, and that has allowed the fruit to really come forward. Dark plum, spice, tobacco and licorice linger nicely. Best of all, the 1993 has enough pedigree to drink well for another two decades, maybe more.

vinous94

Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni

The 1993 Monfortino is one of the wines with the most sediment, but once the wine is decanted, the fruit really begins to pop. This is one of the deeper, meatier wines of the evening. There is plenty of depth and intensity in the glass if not quite the finesse or translucency of the very best years. I don’t expect to see too much upside from here, but time will tell. Tasted from magnum.

vinous91

Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni

1993 Barolo Riserva Monfortino – Dense ruby with some bricking. The youthful 1993 presents a delicate yet captivating nose along with flavors of slightly evolved red fruits with good length and balance although the wine’s significant tannins render it less than totally expressive today. This will require additional bottle age to integrate better.