"Grand Crus" of Barolo-- Cannubi, Brunate and Villero

Renato Ratti , winemaker, writer and an indefatigable promoter of Barolo DOCG wines , before he died in the late 1980's, bestowed 10 sites in the region as being exceptional. At that time most of these were blended into making a generic (in the best sense of the word) Barolo and site-specific wines were few. The notable ones one could find in stores in New York in the early 80's were Bussia (not on Ratti’s list of the top 10), Cannubi, Monprivato and Lazzarito . Now the great majority of wine-makers in the region release at least one site specific Barolo. In this tasting we took a look at three of the top (Grand Cru?) ten Renato Ratti designated sites-- BRUNATE, CANNUBI & VILLERO-- to see if we could draw conclusions about a uniting characteristic for each site.
All wines were decanted 4 hours before tasting. We began with a comparison of all 3 sites in the first flight and unveiled them to clue us into the character of each site. We then bunched all the wines of a single site into a flight and tasted them blind. What we discovered was that wine making style mostly trumped character of the site. The set of Villero wines perhaps were the most different, with a leaner more mineral profile while the set of both Brunate and Cannubi wines were softer, forward and intensely fragrant but difficult to distinguish from each other. Not surprising since the latter two are on Tortonian soil which is known to give wines of perfume and less tannic fruit, while the Villero site is on Helvetican soil which gives wines with greater structure .
Wines were retasted with dinner and, if there was any left over, re-assessed the next day also with dinner. Scores have been added to the Barolo Scoreboard (March 2007)


Marcarini, Brunate: Dark but not intensely extracted; sensuously fragrant with a hint of oak in the background; medium bodied ---sleek, silky with flavor of attar. Mildly tannic it is a gentle wine that does not overreach which makes for a balanced experience. Retasting it the next day , I was wishing for a touch more of acidity and forcefulness. 90/89

Damilano, Cannubi: Very dark; exotic spice, broad and plush on the nose; round, spicy with oak-tannins; richly alcoholic (glycerine), excellent depth and quite long. Next day the plush veneer peeled back to reveal a far less impressive wine than originally thought and the potential for complexity with aging is less certain. Overall, I prefer the 1999 vintage of this wine 91/88

Brovia, Villero: Even colored garnet; very muted nose; powerfully austere and firm on the nose; less fragrant than the previous two this is certainly a tough go at this stage (even after 4 hours decanting); finish marked by licorice and alcohol. Next day the tannins resolved completely revealing a medium bodied wine with good acidity, minerality and balance. Now markedly more accessible and , while not exactly delicious, it does have character and site driven complexity. Give this wine 3-4 years. 88/89

Marengo, Brunate: Dark and extracted; an explosion of fruit and fragrance both on nose and palate; clearly some barrique with caramel notes and almost over-ripe black cherries . Supple and forward it is tinged with flavors of roses and fennel. Sumptuous and long. After retasting with food and the next day, the wine still holds great interest but showed less grip. A far better showing for this wine than the one tasted in “Barolo 2001 Part 1" (Nov 2006) last year when I scored it much less. 92/91

Vietti, Brunate; rich color but not inky; warm ripe roasted fruit with fragrance intact; rich, full bodied wine showing a better interplay of tannins with the fruit than seen in the previous wine (Marengo) . Exquisite feel on the palate, it reveals some earthiness as it cascades to a long , chewy and delicious finish. Subsequent tasting confirmed its exquisite balance and style . A profound example of what Brunate can achieve. 92/93

F.Borgogno, Brunate: Note the producer’s first name—Francesco ( not Giacomo). Little to say that is positive about this wine: simple, slightly volatile, sour, rustic. Later retasting descriptors were not as bad–but “simple” was the recurring thought. 82/83.

Scavino, Cannubi: Orange edges to the rich ruby; slightly rustic aromas of cereal that are sideswiped by emerging scent of roses; firm attack but the flavors are anything but interesting and verge on the peculiar–did not get better with food later on. Tasted blind the next day it was once again peculiar with excessive licorice flavor. Probably just needs time to resolve but based on this bottle it is 88/87 points.

Pira (Chiara Boschis), Cannubi: Very dark; exotic nose that is a bit too vanillin, masking vineyard character; on the palate, however, the presence of new oak is surprisingly muted and contained . The wine is firm yet giving, aromatic and properly tannic with a great kernel of acidity. When the oak dissipates this should be a classic. Retasting merely confirms the excellent depth. 91/93

Einaudi, Cannubi : Very dark; sexy nose with licorice, caramel and vanilla as well as a hint of kirsch liquer. Rich, full and pliably firm. Gutsy tannins make the fruit lag behind and there is no doubt that there is a mass of fruit waiting to emerge. Austere finish belies the power lurking. This too promises to be a winner. 90/91

Fenocchio, Villero: Bleached color but there is not much reduction to account for the lack of depth in color; initially the nose was pretty but here was a bit too much of balsamic notes later on. Light on the palate with a touch of minerality , this does not capture the quality of the vintage–a lean wine. 87/86

G.Mascarello, Villero: Here we go again. Another G. Mascarello wine that is less than good in this vintage (as it was in in 2000 as well, in my experience). This time there is a touch of TCA which made an already uninteresting wine less interesting. ???

Boroli, Villero: Exotic nose with new oak character; softer than the other 2 Villeros it is round and pleasantly full but appears to be bereft of a core; it is unexcitingly good and not very nuanced. Nothing wrong here but lacks zip. 87/87.