Giuseppe Rinaldi Dinner

At the beginning of the month our NY Vinous wine group met at Hearth Restaurant in NYC for an evening of great food and many top vintages of the Brunate Le Coste Barolo wines of Giuseppe Rinaldi. Making this evening extra special was the attendance of Vinous members Alice and Rob who travelled all the way from Hong Kong to join us.  Additionally group founder Tony, who recently moved to London, England, was in town and also joined us.  It was great to meet Alice and Rob and to see Tony again.

The evening turned out to be fantastic with the help of group member Marc who did a fantastic job coordinating the evening with general manager and wine director Christine Wright.  This was my third visit here and like the others the food and service were top notch.

Food

Mediterranean Salad

Grass-Fed Beef Tartare with Salsa Verde, Raw Cheddar and Potato Chips

Maccheroni with Pork Ragu and Ricotta

Braised Rabbit Leg with Mushrooms and Leeks

The final courses were a Roasted Ribeye with Creamed Greens and cheese plate.  Sorry no photos.

Wine

In my opinion this was our best tasting to date as all the wines, with one exception, displayed brilliant pedigree.  What was very interesting, although not at all surprising, was that this very experienced and Nebbiolo knowledgeable group had some very different opinions regarding the wines.

"Beppe", as he was known, was an icon of traditionally made Barolo.   It was Beppe’s belief, in the true traditional style, that the greatest heights to which Barolo could reach could only come through blending. Although this was not a popular belief during the ‘90s, as the modern movement swept through Piedmont, Beppe held fast and refused to change.  His tope wines were blends from his estate's 4 vineyards.  Perhaps his top wine was the Brunate Le Coste (10,000 bottles), a blend of the Brunate and Le Coste vineyards, followed by his Cannubi San Lorenzo Ravera (3,500 bottles), a blend of these two vineyards in Novello.  Barolo wine laws changed in 2010 making it illegal to put the names of more than one vineyard on the label.  Today, he makes Barolo Brunate, which contains 15% fruit from the Le Coste Vineyard and Tre Tine, which is a blend of the vineyards Ravera (50%), Cannubi (30%) and Le Coste (20%).  The wines continue to be top expressions of traditionally made Barolo.

Sadly, Beppe passed away at age 70 in September of 2018, leaving the estate and winemaking in the hands of his very capable daughters Marta and Carlotta.

All wines we drank tonight were double decanted around 1 pm before being brought to the restaurant. For this tasting Ken arranged the wines into 4 flights from oldest to youngest.


Before we began the Rinaldi tasting we enjoyed a bottle of 2008 Pierre Peters Les Chetillons Champagne Cuvée Spéciale Blanc de Blancs Brut brought along by Alice. The Pierre Péters estate, situated in the heart of the "Côte des Blancs" in the village of Le Mesnil sur Oger, has been a family house for six generations and has produced Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Champagnes since 1919. A Champagne grower-producer, the wines come exclusively from their own vineyards. They farm just over 19 hectares of Chardonnay, mainly located in the communes of Le Mesnil sur Oger, Oger, Avize and Cramant.

I was not familiar with this producer or his Champagne, but I was delighted with my first experience.  It had an enticing yeasty bouquet with a slightly saline and yeast palate and superb lengthy finish.  The bubbles provided an excellent start to the evening.

Flight 1

1985 Giuseppe Rinaldi Barolo Riserva Selezionata Brunate.  A wow wine. I was smitten with the first sip of this incredible wine.  The wine possessed a gorgeous earthy and fruity bouquet with a round, delicious, harmonious palate and lengthy elegant finish.  About as perfect a wine as you will find.  This slightly nosed out the ’96 as my WOTN.

1993 Giuseppe Rinaldi Barolo Brunate Le Coste.  This was a difficult vintage in Barolo, although probably the best vintage of the early 90s.  It took a while to open up and when it did it lacked the depth and complexity of the other wines in the flight.

1994 Giuseppe Rinaldi Barolo Brunate Le Coste.  Another difficult vintage that showed a bit better than the ’93.

1995 Giuseppe Rinaldi Barolo Brunate Le Coste.  Another tough vintage, although this showed a little more depth than either the ’93 or ’94 but far behind the ’85.

Flight 2

1996 Giuseppe Rinaldi Barolo Brunate Le Coste.  A wine I have enjoyed on numerous occasions, and tonight was no exception.  The wine evolved with each sip showing beautiful complexity and balance and a lengthy elegant finish.  My runner-up to wine of the night.

1997 Giuseppe Rinaldi Barolo Brunate Le Coste.  Originally thought to be a great vintage that quickly went south.  I found this to be totally flat and over the hill.

1998 Giuseppe Rinaldi Barolo Brunate Le Coste, Magnum. I felt the wine was hitting on all cylinders and literally soared from the glass with complexity, balance and lengthy and elegant finish. One of the top wines of the evening in my opinion.

Flight 3

1999 Giuseppe Rinaldi Barolo Brunate Le Coste.  Great potential here.  Very good tonight, but give more time in the cellar this will be evolve into a classic wine.

2001 Giuseppe Rinaldi Barolo Brunate Le Coste.  A beautiful bottle of wine that showed good complexity, depth and elegance.  Many happy years of drinking are ahead for this wine.

2004 Giuseppe Rinaldi Barolo Cannubi San Lorenzo Ravera, Magnum. While young this was quite good with fantastic potential.  Glad to have a stash in the cellar.

Flight 4

2005 Giuseppe Rinaldi Barolo Brunate Le Coste. Like the ’04 Lorenzo, this shows terrific potential.  

2006 Giuseppe Rinaldi Barolo Brunate Le Coste. Similar to the ’04 and “05 in this flight, young and delicious with great potential.

2007 Giuseppe Rinaldi Barolo Brunate Le Coste. This was superb!  While young like the others in this flight I found more depth and finesses in the wine at this young age.  Destined to be a prodigious wine.

Saluté 

Bruno Giacosa Barbaresco

In July our NY Vinous group gathered at DeGrezia Ristorante in Manhattan for an evening dedicated to the Barbaresco wines of Bruno Giacosa.  This group is comprised of Nebbiolo lovers, and thus our tastings are predominantly Barolo and/or Barbaresco from Piedmont.  Group member Ken Vastola is one of the most knowledgeable individuals around when it comes to Nebbiolo that I have ever met.  Ken also has a cellar that is very deep in Giacosa wines.  His blog, The Fine Wine Geek, contains a wealth of information on Giacosa wines.  If you are a Nebbiolo or Giacosa fan, check it out.

The Giacosa estate has long been considered one of the most respected producers of traditional Barolo and Barbaresco. Giacosa was not an oenologist.  Those duties were handled by Dante Scaglione, a strict tradtionalist, from 1992 until he resigned in 2008.  Many felt that his departure greatly affected the quality of the wines.  He returned in 2011 as consulting oenologist and the wines have begun to show a marked improvement. The jury however is still out as to whether or not the estate will return to its peak when Bruno was alive and Dante was the winemaker.  Bruno Giacosa passed away in January of this year.  His daughter Bruna is in charge of the estate today.

In addition to serving excellent Northern Italian cuisine, the excellent service and private wine room fit the bill perfectly for our group.

Food

Fresh Burrata Cheese with Roasted Peppers and Tomatoes

Polenta with Sausage and Porcini Mushroom Ragu

Pappardelle Sul Cinghiale

Sausage Stuffed Quail

Potato & Spinach Gnocchi Bolognese

Wine

For this tasting Ken arranged the wines into 5 flights with the first three comprised of wines from the Asilli vineyard and the final two from the Santo Stefano vineyard.All wines we drank tonight were double decanted around 1 pm before being brought to the restaurant.

Flight 1

1997 Bruno Giacosa Barbaresco Asili.  Aroma of cough syrup, murky color, flat palate. The 1997 vintage was originally hailed as one of the great vintages of Piedmont.  Alas, the wines began to fall apart after about 10 years.  This bottle certainly was well past its time, in my opinion.

2001 Bruno Giacosa Barbaresco Asili.  A wine I have enjoyed on multiple occasions, but not so much tonight.  Muted bouquet with a green mid-palate.

2005 Bruno Giacosa Barbaresco Asili. Best wine of the flight.  This was classic Giacosa.  Still very young, with great pedigree and aging potential.

Flight 2

1990 Bruno Giacosa Barbaresco Asili Riserva.  An OMG wine.  A classic Nebbiolo nose wafts from the glass setting up great expectations of what the palate will soon experience.  There is no let down as the wine has exquisite balance, finesse and complexity with a 45+ second elegant finish.  My WOTN.

1996 Bruno Giacosa Barbaresco Asili Riserva. Another outstanding bottle of this wine that I have been fortunate to have on a number of occasions.  A round and delicious wine that never stops evolving as you sip it.  Very close runner-up to the 1990 for WOTN.

2000 Bruno Giacosa Barbaresco Asili Riserva.  This started out with no bouquet and a flat palate.  After 30 minutes in the glass it blossomed displaying a fresh, fruity and velvet palate. While very good, it lacked the depth and elegance of the ’90 & ’96.

Flight 3

2004 Bruno Giacosa Barbaresco Asili Riserva.   This wine may very well surpass the ’90 and ’96 Riserva in a few more years.  The wine soared from the glass with each sip.  Fantastic pedigree here.

2007 Bruno Giacosa Barbaresco Asili Riserva.  I found this to be a bit one dimensional for the first 20 minutes before it began to open and take on some depth.  I think there is a lot of potential here.

Flight 4

1974 Bruno Giacosa Barbaresco Santo Stefano. In my opinion this was an off bottle.  Palate was dull and there was little finish.

1985 Bruno Giacosa Barbaresco Santo Stefano Riserva.  A nice bottle, but it got lost among the stellar Asili Riservas..

1988 Bruno Giacosa Barbaresco Santo Stefano Riserva.  This wine has seen its better days.

Flight 5

1993 Bruno Giacosa Barbaresco Santo Stefano. Faded bottle that was well past its drinking window..

1996 Bruno Giacosa Barbaresco Santo Stefano.  Very good bottle of wine but not in the same league as the 1996 Asili Riserva.

2001 Bruno Giacosa Barbaresco Santo Stefano.  I enjoyed this a lot and in fact had it ahead of the 2001 Asili.  Terrific depth and elegance here.

While we were all in agreement that the Asili wines outdistanced those from Santo Stefano, it was another great evening with a group of wonderful and knowledgeable Nebbiolo geeks.

All photos courtesy of Ken Vastola.

Saluté