Giacomo Conterno Monfortino Riserva

About This Wine

The 2008 Barolo Riserva Monfortino is remarkable in its precision and overall beauty. Dried rose petals, flowers, mint, tobacco, cedar, licorice and dried cherries are laced together in a fabric of nearly indescribable finesse. The signature of 2008 is a cold snap in October that delayed the harvest and left many wines with an intense perfume and sweetness that is highly unusual in young Nebbiolo but that is often seen in truly epic years such as the 1982s or 1989s with bottle age. Roberto Conterno gave the Monfortino six years in cask, as opposed to the more typical seven, given the wine's mid-weight structure. Indeed, what emerges from the glass is a delicate, lithe Monfortino built on elegance rather than power. Conterno compares the 2008 Monfortino the 1979, a fabulous Monfortio from a long forgotten vintage that, sadly, I have not tasted in a few years. In more modern terms, the 2008 Monfortino possesses a level of sweetness that is reminscent of some of the great Giacosa Collina Riondas. Although the 2008 will age effortlessly for decades, it also should start to drink well sooner than most vintages. (Drink between 2018-2048) 98 points Antonio Galloni, Vinous