The Wines of Bruno Giacosa
Table of Giacosa Barbarescos
Table of Giacosa Barolos
The Other Wines of Giacosa
(Arneis, Barbera, Grignolino, Nebbiolo d'Alba, Spumante).
Explanation of Giacosa Labels
(in PowerPoint format).
This should be very helpful in matching bottles to the entries in the
Barolo and Barbaresco charts.
If you do not have PowerPoint on your computer, you can download my
Explanation of Giacosa Labels in pdf format
(without animation); or you can download a free PowerPoint Viewer
here for Windows,
or
here for Mac.
General Notes on the Giacosa Winery and Labels
- For more details on his Barolo and Barbaresco vineyards,
see the separate pages for each linked to above.
- The first wines bottled and sold by the Bruno Giacosa Winery were
a Barolo and a Barbaresco from the 1961 vintage.
While not stated on the label, the Barolo was from the Falletto vineyard and
the Barbaresco was a blend from the Gallina and Santo Stefano vineyards.
- Wine was made by Bruno's grandfather Carlo and his father Mario as far back as the 1890's.
Most of this wine was sold to customers in demijohn as was common practice in the region at the time.
Bottling at the winery was not at all common until after World War II.
- Here is a label for a 1911 Barbaresco from
Carlo Giacosa & Figli sent to me by the winery.
- While the reserve is often referred to as the "red label", the label has never been a true red,
varying from maroon to reddish brown.
In fact, the earliest non-single-vineyard Giacosa Riservas had a tan label.
See this photo for a
set of older Riservas including a 1961.
- Starting in 1996, Giacosa has divided into two winery names based on whether
the grapes are estate grown (i.e. if he owns the vineyard).
This is fairly typical in Piedmont now and has something to do with tax breaks for
"Azienda Agricola" which only bottle estate bottled wine.
- "Azienda Agricola Falletto di Bruno Giacosa" makes wines only from estate vineyards, currently
- Barolo Falletto
- Barolo Rocche del Falletto
- Barbaresco Asili
- Barbaresco Rabajà
- "Casa Vinicola Bruno Giacosa" makes (or made) wines using grapes purchased from
selected growers including
- Barbaresco Santo Stefano
- Barbaresco Gallina
- Barolo Villero
- Prior to 1996, all his wines were made under the "Casa Vinicola Bruno Giacosa" name.
- One by one, Giacosa is eliminating the non-estate-grown single-vineyard wines bottled under
the "Casa Vinicola Bruno Giacosa" name.
1996 was the last vintage for Villero.
1998 was the last vintage for Gallina.
2011 was the last vintage for Santo Stefano.
The one exception seems to be the Nebbiolo d'Alba Valmaggiore.
- Individual bottle numbers on labels:
- Since the begining (1964 specifically), Giacosa has always put individual bottle numbers
on the labels of all single-vineyard wines he produces.
Sadly, they were forced to stop this practice by new labeling laws enacted around 2010.
- The white label Barolos don't have individual bottle numbers starting in the 2009 vintage.
- The white label Barbarescos don't have individual bottle numbers starting in the 2008 vintage.
- Both red label Barolos and Barbarescos don't have them starting in the 2007 vintage.
- For the Barbera d'Alba Falletto and the Nebbiolo d'Alba Valmaggiore, the first vintage without
individual bottle numbers was 2010.
- For more on this great winery, see
my report from my visit there
in the summer of 2016.
Winemaker
For most of its history, Bruno Giacosa was the winemaker.
Around 1990, Dante Scaglione was working at an enology center owned by Giuliano Noé.
There he performed various tests for Bruno who was very impressed with his abilities
and his understanding of winemaking. In 1992, Bruno asked Dante to work for him fulltime.
Dante was thrilled to accept. In recent years, as Bruno's health has decline, Dante has
taken over the role of winemaker.
There was a temporary lapse in this relationship when Dante resigned on March 7, 2008.
He was replaced by Giorgio Lavagna, son-in-law to the manager of Giacosa's Falletto estate,
who had worked as a winemaker at Batisiolo.
In early 2011, Dante Scaglione came back to Giacosa as winemaker.
The winery said there were some misunderstandings, but now all is well.
Related Links
- Giacosa Winery Homepage.
- Folio Fine Wine Partners,
a Michael Mondavi family-owned company, announced that it will be the new
United States importer for
the critically acclaimed Italian wine producer,
Bruno Giacosa,
effective January 1, 2012.
- Until 2011, the U.S. importer for Giacosa wines was
Winebow.
Prior to that (up through the 1987 vintage), the U.S. importer was
Vinifera Imports.
- A special thank you to Bruna Giacosa and the staff at the winery for some of the information on these pages.
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All original content © Ken Vastola