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Viinin Kuvailu
The Story
Conterno’s Monfortino is a heavyweight contender for the best Barolo around, and it definitely has our vote. It’s a matchless experience of power paired with subtlety and the effect is quite seductive. As it opens, you’ll experience classic hints of rose, earthy black truffles, cigar box, and anise in a boldly structured wine that’s still quite fresh.
Antonio Galloni of Vinous said it’s a “magnificent” wine that “explodes from the glass with a luxurious, expansive personality that leaves me speechless.” The lucky people who share this bottle with you likely will never forget it.
Monfortino is the very first Barolo made in what has come to be known as the classic style. Earlier Barolos were generally sold in either cask or demijohn, and meant for early drinking. Giacomo decided to create a Barolo with great aging potential. His first wine wine was a 120 Barolo Riserva, and he soon adopted the name Monfortino in honor of his home village Montorte d'Alba.
In 1959 Giovanni Conterno began making the wine at his family domaine, taking over from his father Giacomo. The legendary Barolos he made in 1964, 1971, 1978, 1985 and 1990 have left their mark in Italian wine history.
Vuosikerta 1996
Italy Vintage Report by Tb: 1996 was an excellent continuation of the preceding year. Temperatures exceeding 30°C at the beginning of June accelerated and balanced the start of the blooming period. The summer growing season enjoyed ideal conditions, in which the grapes were allowed to ripen slowly and evenly. The autumn rains did not present any mould problems due to the cool temperatures. Nebbiolo grapes were thick-skinned, very concentrated and ripe. The 1996 Barolos and Barbarescos are abundantly fruity, supple and robust wines, whose quality is on a par with the 1990 vintage. In Tuscany Chianti and Montalcino enjoyed extraordinary success. Montepulciano did not do quite as well, but producers in Tuscany considered 1996 to be nearly every bit as good as it was in 1995. Starting with this vintage Angelo Gaja classified his legendary single-vineyard Barbarescos and Barolos as IGTs. Gaja said that the reason for doing this was his desire to differentiate his previous modern single-vintage wines from his family’s pride, the traditional Barbaresco, whose importance he wanted to emphasise as his only DOCG wine. The venerable Chianti producer, Castello di Ama decided that from 1996 on it would focus on the production of Chianti Classico, placing less emphasis on its single-vineyard wines, the Bellavista and La Casuccia.
The wines are still maturing very nicely, even if the Chiantis should, in my opinion, be enjoyed soon due to their sheer deliciousness.