2007 Massolino Barbera dAlba Gisep

O

Oswaldo Costa

Oswaldo Costa
2007 Massolino Barbera dAlba Serralunga dAlba Gisep 15.0%
From older Vigna Rionda vines. 18 months in barriques and 6-9 months in bottle. Tasted this at the winery in November and found "Lovely and ripe red fruit aromas. Great acidity grip, lovely balance, high alcohol fully integrated. Great density, serious stuff."

Brought home a bottle and opened it last night. Nose was reticent, ripe plum and nothing else (Marcia says umeboshi, but that's Japanese to me). Good mouth weight, but the mid-palate is hollow. Every component seems compartmentalized, badly integrated. There's a searing sensation at the back of the throat that suggests lavish acidity but is more likely alcohol flaming the oesophagal flora. Even though Barbera is naturally low pH and the idea of acidifying one seems ungodly, the fact that this is 15% makes the mind start playing tricks with the palate. I keep wondering if they haven't supermatured to compete with success stories like Braida's Ai Suma and, therefore, managed to produce one that requires addition. Dismal reports from last month's fractious Barbera junket only amplify the suspicion that this is some deracinated bastardo of dough. But, then, how come I enjoyed it so much in November? Since then, maybe Gisep hit puberty. Or mine ended.
 
Massolino wasn't in our tastings, but boy do I recognize that note. I wrote it over, and over, and over, and over...
 
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
Nose was reticent... but the mid-palate is hollow... badly integrated...
Click to expand...

maybe it just traveled badly? i assume you took it on the plane with you, which today means checking the wine to be sent to the less-pressurized luggage cabin...
 
I thought the whole plane was pressurized uniformly? As far as super-Barberas go, I found the '06 Gisep more drinkable than most, but still on the spoofy side for me. The rest of Massolino's range, however, I found very enjoyable.
 
originally posted by scottreiner:
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
Nose was reticent... but the mid-palate is hollow... badly integrated...
Click to expand...

maybe it just traveled badly? i assume you took it on the plane with you, which today means checking the wine to be sent to the less-pressurized luggage cabin...
Click to expand...

Could be, but I waited five months for it to settle down, plus all the wines we taste here undergo the same nine hour transequatorial duress. It's a level playing field.
 
Pressure change shouldn't matter unless the cork leaks.

Wine's OK in Denver, or Mexico City, or up in the Alps. I've done the experiment.
 
originally posted by SFJoe:
Pressure change shouldn't matter unless the cork leaks.

Wine's OK in Denver, or Mexico City, or up in the Alps. I've done the experiment.
Click to expand...

I always thought that the problem was not so much the absolute change in pressure, but the quick change that occurs while flying.
 
originally posted by Thor:
Massolino wasn't in our tastings, but boy do I recognize that note. I wrote it over, and over, and over, and over...
Click to expand...

I just looked at the 07 Giacomo Conterno Barbera I'm intending to open tonight and it's also 15%. Aargh, it might be dja vu all over again...
 
Without having tasted the wine, I don't think you need to reflexively fear alcohol in all such wines. Some of them are too hot, yes, and I admit I was astounded at some of the alcohol levels that were being reported (15% may have been a median at certain houses, and I think the dried grape thing is more widely practiced than I'd realized), but between the "traditional" sharp barbera and the tricked-up Latin-named cuves was a whole middle category of pushed-fruit wines. Many of them didn't work, but many of them did, and when they worked they were able to balance some pretty powerful fruit with that weight, leaving something that tasted like barbera on steroids, but still identifiable as barbera.

Of course, it might be disjointed and steamy. Only one way to find out.
 
It had been 5 years or so since I had a Conterno barbera. Recently I tried the 06. It wasn't like I remember
older vintages being(prior to 01). It was very dark and big and not very expressive. I don't know if it's closed or the style changed or what but the charm I remember from the past was not there.
 
originally posted by Thor:
Without having tasted the wine, I don't think you need to reflexively fear alcohol in all such wines. Some of them are too hot, yes, and I admit I was astounded at some of the alcohol levels that were being reported (15% may have been a median at certain houses, and I think the dried grape thing is more widely practiced than I'd realized)...
Click to expand...

Thor,

In these days of global warming I doubt very much that wineries are doing anything that would raise alcohol; both Barbera and Nebbiolo have a tendency in that direction anyway. For my taste many '07s are a bit hot, although some Barberas can handle it.
 
More than a few told us they were adding back dried-grape must to the blends, and all of those said it was a traditional practice in the region. True or not, I can't judge. But there were enough 15.5, 16, and higher wines (reported). So in that sense, some are raising alcohol, though of course they're actually doing it for other reasons, and the alcohol's merely a consequence.

But we also heard a lot of talk about longer hang times, especially on the second day during the Hastae presentation at which all the fighting started, and while they're talking about lowering the acidity while the grape's still on the vine they're also, in a way, talking about raising the alcohol. Even though, again, that's not their purpose.

As an aside, one well-known producer of nebbiolo and/or variations on that theme quite enthusiastically pointed out that "global warming has been great for us." Of course, other members of the company then asked us not to make too big of a deal about that.
 
Barbera d'Asti, so I'm told, used to be a thin and nasty concoction, not always successfully through ML, and in those days I can see using a bit of passito must*. These days it makes no sense at all, and IMO the acidity from well-farmed Barbera at 14% or so is refreshing but not cranberryish. I don't doubt what you say, I just don't understand it.

*on the other hand, acidity would concentrate just as much as sugar, so...
 
Oliver, holder of the World's Most English Name (is your middle Nigel?), we don't get it either. But more...much more...later.

Acidity would not concentrate. Acidity would fade w/ripeness.
 
originally posted by Thor:
Oliver, holder of the World's Most English Name (is your middle Nigel?), we don't get it either. But more...much more...later.

Acidity would not concentrate. Acidity would fade w/ripeness.
Click to expand...

I mean if you dried the grapes, rather than ripening them more. Obviously ripening leads to a decrease in acidity.

I used to have an English friend who lived in SF called Rosemary Nightingale, it was Central Casting's idea of Englishness. Now I'm a wannabe Italian, of course.
 
Rosemary Nightingale! Wow.

I can't actually take credit for noting that you have the world's most English name. That was Dr. Parzen, I believe. Or maybe Cory.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top