In the introduction to their 1990 book “Barolo, Tar and Roses,” authors Michael Garner and Paul Merritt describe the aroma and taste of the classic red wine from Italy’s Piemonte, Barolo:
“The initial sensations are fleeting: fruit, mainly black cherries, raspberries, and plums, and sometimes ... strawberries. Flowers follow, often violets and the classic ‘faded rose petals’ intermingled with herbs like mint and camphor.
“Then secondary aromas ... where the wine’s extraordinary power begins to assert itself—scents of tar, licorice, truffles, bitter chocolate, ground coffee, tobacco, burnt coffee, aniseed, and other spices; the list could go on and on.”
That’s quite a statement, especially for a wine so hard to sell in the United States.
Despite those glowing descriptions of one of the world’s greatest red wines, there is a problem with it when it is young. To me, Barolo conjures up an image of a brooding bear, growling until age can tame its talons.
Good Barolo has loads of tannin and requires aging time. Ten years is common; well-made Barolos can go 30.
Things changed 30 years ago when some new winemakers pioneered a modern style of Barolo. The wines were lighter, more elegant. This modernist Barolo generated some excitement for the wine here in the mid-1980s.
This more approachable version of Italy’s most age-worthy red made a wine that was easier to consume earlier. And the passions I witnessed for it were seen in higher scores by some of the major wine magazines.
But eventually, the traditionalists won out. Now I am seeing a trend toward even better winemaking. Most traditional producers reverted to the older versions, much to the delight of those who understood the wine.
To me, the current style of Barolo is better than ever, because it has some of the fruit of the newer style but the “grip” of the old style.
In the Barolo book mentioned earlier, the authors acknowledge that Barolo has a “notorious vicelike grip of tannin,” which some of the new-style producers tried to wrest out of the wine to make it more approachable earlier.
In that, they succeeded. But some critics argued that the newer style of wine wouldn’t age as well.
For those of us who adore the older style of Barolo, the vintages of 2019 and 2020 both were so exceptional that demand for the wines has risen significantly. Recent critics’ scores have been as high as they have been in decades, and although many of these wines are expensive, every now and then a good value comes along.
By reverting to the older style of Barolo, many of the traditional producers made a much more interesting and provocative Barolo. This wine is not for everyone. But it illustrates how a great grape variety can survive even misguided efforts to improve it.
Barolo’s main problem today is that the top wines remain expensive. Most great producers’ wines are $80 to $100 a bottle.
Pricey? Yes—but significantly below the cost of Napa cabernets.
