Today's producer, Rattalino is very small and most of you have never heard of it. And I know that many people are reluctant to try new producers in the Langhe because many of the producers are disappointing and expensive. But a good number of you tried the first offer and the reviews are coming in that the wines are stunning and ready to drink. I knew that this would happen and reserved more wine from the 2010 vintage so that people could stock up. I also lucked into a very small amount of the 2011 when a restaurant in Italy that had reserved it went bankrupt.As many of you know, I was turned on to this winery by one of the top US-based writers about Italian wine, Tom Hyland, who is a fan. This is another one of those wineries where in a couple of years, they will be discovered and prices will shoot up and we'll all be like "ack, I should have bought more."
The first wine today is a wine that if you love Barbaresco it is something you need to try. We are offering the 2010 Massimo Rattalino Barbaresco Quarantacinque (45) Riserva for $54.99 each on a 3 pack. This wine is simply incredible. The nose is gorgeous with stunning pretty licorice and flowers. It really has that lovely tarry, rose-like thing and is super expansive. The palate is the apogee of Langhe fruit. Fresh, full red and even some dark fruits. Incredible power and concentration but so perfectly balanced with acidity (this is a Fass selections wine, after all). Really, really juicy. The tannins are firm but soft. The finish has lingering cherry fruit intertwined with licorice. This is a wine of staggering power and complexity. You can certainly drink it with meat but it's sort of like listening to a beautiful opera while playing a video game. Please at least have a glass by itself so that you can truly appreciate it. It will change your mood if you had a bad day and enhance just about anything, but don't, drink it outside on a 100 degree day watching polo. That probably won't work.
The 2007 Selection 42 is available elsewhere for $54.99 and this is a better vintage of a wine that costs 50% more (it is a riserva). The "45" should cost $80-$90 through standard 3 tier. I've had many a bottle of Produttori di Barbaresco, which I like very much. This bottle blows away their mid tier offerings (in this price range). Oh, and 2010 is considered one of the top vintages (along with 2008) of the past decade.
The 45 is aged for 36 months in 2,000 litre Slavonian oak casks followed by 12 months in tonneau and 6 months in bottle. You can pop and pour this wine if you like but it obviously gains in complexity as it ages.
The second wine is the 2011 Massimo Rattalino Barbaresco Quarantadue (42) for $36.99 each on a 4 pack. This is really a more aromatically-driven wine that is much lighter on the palate. The nose has very, very pretty aromatics with a bit of cherry flower. Really pretty - like you could smell it all night pretty. I'm not a fan of applying gender stereotypes to wine, but Barbaresco is called the Queen and this wine is certainly quite "feminine." The palate has light, first of season cherry fruit with gorgeous internal aromatics. Think Volnay in terms of impact and aromatic balance. The fruit is more the table setting for the aromatics. The finish is sort of that lingering fresh cherry aftertaste from really red (not purple) cherries. Awesome, awesome balance. Compare the 2007 bottling of this wine at $54.99. The value cannot be beat.
It is aged for 24 months in large Slavonian oak casks. Think a really well made premier cru wine (if it were made from nebbiolo). This is really a gorgeously well made wine if you like traditional Barbaresco which is more aromatically based. It should age well for up to 15 years.
Massimo Rattalino purchased the estate and produced his first wines in 2002. When speaking to his employees, there is the combination of incredible respect and trepidation. This is a man who wants everything from the vineyard work to the vinification to the position of the labels to the temperature of the wine at tasting to be exactly what he wants. He has that attention to detail that is common at all of our great wineries. Rattalino is a new star in the Langhe and I am thrilled to be offering
these wines.
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