Indigena World Tour Day 2 Morning: Langhe
@ Il Buco Alimentari & Vineria, NYC (6/5/2018)


Day Two of a three-day educational tasting event organized by Ian D'Agata's Indigena.

See my main page for this event for background, overview, and links to the other two days.


Indigena Tasting Day 2 Morning: Langhe

The morning of the second day of the Indigena World Tour in NYC focused on the Langhe. The first flight was all Barolo, while the second flight was Barbaresco and a few other grapes of the Langhe (Arneis, Favorita, Barbera).

Links to each flight:
Click on an image with a border for a much larger view of that image which may contain additional image.

Langhe Flight One: Barolo.
Eight glasses of Barolo to get the morning started:
All the bottles in this flight were open at 8am and tasted from 10am to 11:30am.
  1. 2014 Prunotto Barolo - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
    No nose. Short attack. Tannic, juicy, simple. Pleasant. General agreement at my table that this would be a decent Langhe Nebbiolo. (84 points)
  2. 2014 Gianni Gagliardo Barolo - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
    Smoky, raisiny nose. Simple and short. After another hour in the glass, it is showing more complexity and potential. Nice. (86 points)
  3. 2013 Pio Cesare Barolo - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
    More sweet fruit in the nose. More fruit in the nose and on the attack than the previous ones. Still, mostly tannin on the finish. Shows how much better 2013 is compared to 2014. (87 points)
  4. 2013 Azelia Barolo - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
    [Fermented in stainless steel for over 4 weeks using indigenous yeasts. Aged for 2 years in 30 hectoliter oak barrels.] Now we're talking! Definitely another level from the prior. Smoky chocolate nose. Rich, complex, with smooth tannins. Quite tasty. Modern in style, but not overdone. (91 points)
  5. 2013 Azelia Barolo San Rocco - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
    [From the San Rocco MGA in Serralung d'Alba. Fermented in stainless steel for over 4 weeks using indigenous yeasts. Aged for 2 years in 30 hectoliter oak barrels.] Similar oaky chocolate nose to their base Barolo but on the palate there is another level of richness. Loads of black fruit hides a lot of the tannin, but with restraint and elegance. Should drink well for at least 2 decades. 93-94 points. (93 points)
  6. 2013 Michele Chiarlo Barolo Cerequio - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
    Odd smoky, grassy nose. Better on the palate with more fruit. Still a little odd. Maybe 87 points if it mellows?
  7. 2013 Poderi Luigi Einaudi Barolo Cannubi - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
    Black fruit and walnut nose. Good fruit up front, but a little short on the finish. (88 points)
  8. 2013 Poderi Luigi Einaudi Barolo Terlo Vigna Costa Grimaldi - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
    Red fruit with a hint of nail polish remover in the nose.. Grapy, juicy. Tasty on a long finish of black fruit and tannin. (91 points)

Langhe Flight Two: Barbaresco, Arneis, Favorita, Barbera.
A favorita from Gianni Gagliardo was the big surprise for me in this flight.
  1. 2017 Vietti Roero Arneis - Italy, Piedmont, Alba, Roero
    Gorgeous nose of tropical fruit and flowers. Big and delicious. So hard not to gulp this down. (92 points)
  2. 2017 Gianni Gagliardo Fallegro - Italy, Piedmont, Piemonte DOC
    [Made from favorita grown in Monticello d'Alba in the Roero zone. Favorita has been shown to be genetically the same as Verminto and Pigato.] Dry, salty, lemon custard nose. Delicious complex, expansive. A hint of fizz. Very different from the Moscato, but just as appealing. I would love to try this with shellfish. A big surprise for me. (92 points)
  3. 2015 Pio Cesare Barbera d'Alba Fides - Italy, Piedmont, Alba, Barbera d'Alba
    Huge vanilla nose. Lush, sickly sweet, cherry chocolate. Maybe at a bad point in its development? Judgement reserved.
  4. 2015 Prunotto Barbaresco - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco
    Bright strawberry nose. Sweet vanilla and light red fruit in the mouth. Quaffable, but not a lot of character. May need more time, but hard to think of this as Barbaresco at this stage. (86 points)
  5. 2013 Vietti Barbaresco Masseria - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco
    [From magnum.] Smoky sweet red fruit nose. Ripe, juicy, long. Not big at all. Elegant and classy. A superb wine. It keeps expanding and improving. Wonderful last wine of the morning. I wish I could sit with it all day. (94 points)

Lunch
Lunch was served, with the wines from the tasting, outside on the patio. See my main page for this event for photos of the lunches, which were similarly terrific across the three days.


Summary

A terrific morning of tasting and learning about a range of wines from the Langhe.

Notes posted from CellarTracker.

 

 

 

All original content © Ken Vastola