1993 Barolo Monfortino Riserva

The 1993 Monfortino is one of the wines with the most sediment, but once the wine is decanted, the fruit really begins to pop. This is one of the deeper, meatier wines of the evening. There is plenty of depth and intensity in the glass if not quite the finesse or translucency of the very best years. I don’t expect to see too much upside from here, but time will tell. Tasted from magnum.

1993 Barolo Riserva Monfortino – Dense ruby with some bricking. The youthful 1993 presents a delicate yet captivating nose along with flavors of slightly evolved red fruits with good length and balance although the wine’s significant tannins render it less than totally expressive today. This will require additional bottle age to integrate better.

The light garnet/ruby-colored 1993 Barolo Monfortino is undoubtedly the wine of the vintage for this challenging year. Like all Conterno wines, it was bottled without fining and filtration, thus preserving its full terroir and varietal characteristics. It boasts a knock-out aromatic profile of rose petals, tar, new saddle leather, sweet, jammy black cherries, licorice, and raspberries, decent acidity, sweet tannin, copious alcohol, wonderful density, a fleshy texture, and beautiful harmony as well as elegance. It can be drunk now and over the next 15 years. Look for this effort to be one of the great sleeper wines of Piedmont given the fact that most 1993 Barolos are austere and hard-edged. Importer: Vin Divino, Chicago, IL; tel. (773) 334-6700