Region: Piemonte, Italy
Composition: 80% Nebbiolo, 20% Barbera
Background: 1976 might have been a good year for the Sex Pistols, but it was a bad year for Barolo. In the Langhe hills of Barolo, Valentino Miglorini wondered what to do with all of his so-so Nebbiolo grapes, grapes not good enough to be made into Barolo. Valentino and his wife Jolanda had only come to the region two years earlier, and he wasn't about to be bound by tradition. He decided to combine the highly acidic and tannic Nebbiolo with the less tannic but still lively Barbera grapes he had around, and put the resulting wine in some new French oak barrels. A year later, "Bricco Manzoni" was born. Originally, the wine only garnered the status of vino da tavola, since the blend was not something that fell within the Barolo DOC, but blends from the area eventually gained the DOC status of Langhe (Langhe Rosso and Langhe Bianco). (And I wonder why, since the same idea in Tuscany, the one that is responsible for Super-Tuscans, still gets only IGT status, which is a level below DOC, but who am I to argue with Italian wine law.)
Rocche dei Manzoni produces 40,000 bottles of Bricco Manzoni a year, which is a lot, especially when you consider that they only make about 50,000 bottles of their four Barolos a year!
Notes: Ruby red in the glass, with browinish-pink edges, you can tell this wine has a little tiny bit of age to it. The nose is decidedly Italian to me, and has a lot of dusty bell pepper, black cherry, and old books and parchment. The mouth has some fleeting dark cherry that is quickly overwhelmed by soft fuzzy tannins, which in turn wrap around a slight spicy peppery bite. The finish is nicely acid and astringent, filled with earth and dust, and lasts for a good length of time, although for some reason I found myself expecting it to hang around even longer. It was slightly tightly wound, and could probably benefit from an hour or so in a decanter, or even another year or two in the cellar, but was pleasant nonetheless.
Cost: $30
Overall: A-
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