We tasted Barbaresco, Barbaresco Sori Tildin and Costa Russi 1979 vintage. You might think the experience wasted on a young rookie, but I can assure you it was not. Since then, I have been fascinated with Barbaresco and have grown to hold Barolo in the same regard. I’ve tasted and enjoyed countless bottles and consider myself a rather good ambassador, considering that I have been importing them since 1997. I’ve recently tasted vintages from 1997 to 2005 and I’m once again reassured of my fondness for these wines and my investment. Hopefully some of my longstanding customers are also enjoying those that they bought from us.
James Browne of Hartenberg Wine Estate recently told me that he had done an Italian wine tasting for Wine Swines. The Giacomo Fenocchio’s Barolo Cannubi 2005 was the star of the evening and he wished he had bought more at the time at R295 per bottle back then.
Last year on the 26th of March, after Vinitaly (one of the largest wine exhibitions in the world), I took a train from Verona to Torino, where I was collected by a man named David Berry Green. David is an Italian wine buyer, and an 8th generation Bourne, for London’s Berry Bros. & Rudd – the historic fine wine merchants based in the UK. He moved to the town of Barolo six years ago, to further pursue his passion for the wines of the Langhe. It has been his mission to promote and exalt the appreciation of the wines of the area, most notably the Barolo and Barbaresco wines. To quote BB&R: “During his early years at Berry Bros. & Rudd, David worked for the spirits side of the company, as a regional manager for Cutty Sark, and with the website team before becoming a Wine Buyer in 2001. This appointment enabled him to pursue his passion for wine. During his career he has bought wines for the company from Burgundy, Spain, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, California and Hungary, and he continues to source from the Loire, Alsace, Austria and Germany. In particular though, David had always been intrigued by Italian wines and their unfulfilled potential, but had never visited the country until a trip to visit friends in the early 1990s. In his own words, he experienced a “Damascene moment” when opening a bottle of 1989 Barolo: “I remember thinking ‘this is fantastic, why don’t we do more with these wines?’ I realised that there was something special and classical in Italy, on par with France’s finest.”
The Barolo was from the La Serra vineyard, made by producer Poderi Marcarini who David works with to this day. In his buying position for Berry Bros. & Rudd, David increasingly focused on Italy, he says: “I was aware that there was more amazing wine to be uncovered and brought to market.” Citing the close relationship of Jasper Morris, who joined the company in 2003, with Burgundy, David realised that “I could only do this properly by living there.” (See more here)
I was extremely fortunate to be experiencing the area with David as my guide – he had made four appointments per day, for four and a half days. We visited cellars and growers over the length and breadth of the Langhe region, tasting Gavi, Arneis, Timorasso, Moscato d’Asti, Barbera, Nebbiolo and of course Barbaresco and Barolo from many single vineyards. It was a fantastic trip and I am now even more enamoured of these wines.
You can sample the wines I tasted on the trip here.
