- 93 Point Vintage (WA)
- Definitely on the More Elegant Side of Barolo
- Gorgeous Cherry Flower, Intense Rose Petals, a Hint of Tobacco.
- Really, Really Pretty
- Palate: Gorgeous, Fresh Cherry Fruit.
- Nice Mineral Notes Great Spice.
- Terrific Freshness. Really Juicy.
- Drinks Beautifully Now,
- Will Be an Aromatic Rockstar in a Few Years
2013 Franco Conterno Barolo Riserva Bussia
- 94 Point Vintage (WA)
- The Epic Denisty of Bussia
- Great Nuanced, Perfumed Nose
- Dried Flowers, a Hint of Cherry, Spice. Some Flint.
- A Nose You Fall in Love with.
- Palate: Perfectly Classic, Balanced, Aromatic; Lovely Pure Fruit
- Structure to Age for Decades
- Almost Gone so Please Order Quickly
- $49.99 for 2013 Bussia Is Insane
We have a wide range of producer styles in Italy, France and Germany. Most of them, you can detect a bit of an overt style one way or another. With others, the wines are just really well made and exact. What I mean by that is that they perfectly translate the terroir and the different wines are as different as night and day. Perhaps no producer exemplifies more than Franco Conterno. And no 2 wines are more polar opposites than these two.
The first wine is the 2015 Franco Conterno Panerole for $39.99 per bottle on a 4 pack purchase. Compare the 2012 (a lesser vintage) at $59.99. This is definitely on the more elegant side of the
The nose is gorgeous cherry flower, intense rose petals and a hint of tobacco. Really, really pretty, almost something more like you'd expect from a Barbaresco, but with a bit more weight. A wine that you can really sit with and "live" on the palate over the course of an evening. The nose is exactly what you want and why you buy Barolo. Just really incredible tar and roses. But really just stunningly pretty. Like imagine a bush full of pink roses aromatizing all over you on a spring day.
The palate is such gorgeous, fresh cherry fruit. Nice mineral notes with some spice. Terrific freshness. Really juicy. Such fine tannins. The finish is just incredibly fresh - the floral aromatics echo for quite a bit. This wine is just such a pretty wine and very well made and a steal at this price. There is some really good fruit on this wine which really grows like a crescendo on the palate. Medium bodied - think blackberries crossed with medium ripe cherries. Just great tar and roses internal aromatics with great juiciness. Tannins are really silky. This is just at the beginning of its drinking window and has the structure to age and improve for a decade or more.
The next wine is the one you have been waiting for, the 2013 Franco Conterno Barolo Riserva Bussia for $49.99 each on a 4 pack purchase. Compare the 2012 (a lesser vintage) at $59.99. Obviously, there is not much left and I had to move this offer up to make sure to secure it. Bussia is, of course, one of the best known of the Cru in Barolo.
Great, great, great nuanced, perfumed nose. Dried flowers, a hint of cherry, spice. Some flint. Really a nose you fall in love with. More dense than the Panerole; the wine really sticks to the olfactory system. This wine is stunning. The nose is an absolute punch in the face. My notes say, "deep, deep, deep." Crazy fruit with tar and dried roses. Just really intense. Like you don't have to swirl your glass to smell it intense. It emanates. Like you can lose yourself in it like Alice Through the Looking Glass intense.
The palate is perfectly classic, balanced and aromatic with lovely pure fruit. Solid dense fruit but integrated with lovely spice. Great structure to age for decades. Terrific density, as you'd expect from Bussia. This is just insanely dense. You have to decant and then aerate on your palate to get a hint of what this wine is going to be like. And as insane as it is now, it is just a hint. This wine is dense. I mean Uranium 235 dense. Dark, dark, dark fruit enrobed in a sliver of intense licorice. With great spiciness. The fruit is almost sweet like you get when wood is perfectly integrated (not sweet in a sugary way).
The nose on this wine is so insane and there is so much flavor and aromatic density and complexity I'm almost afraid to think about what this wine will taste like in 5-10 years. At a minimum it will be incredible. That's the floor.
The finish has some sweet wood and a hint of aromatics at this point in its relative youth. The finish on this wine is insanely long. All of that flavor is starting to get unpacked now on the finish. Definitely a 4-1-3 wine (you can drink a bottle now and it's great but the other 3 will improve over the next 5 years). Of course, many of you will buy a case given the terrific 2013 vintage. The wine was aged for 4 years in 1,500-2,500 liter oak barrels plus another 6 months in bottle. This is almost gone so please order now.
The Winermaker
Franco Conterno is really more of a Fass Selections French producer who happens to live in Italy. He works the vineyards. He makes the wine himself. He is very humble. When he pours the wine, he tells you the bottling and the year and stands back and let's you taste. There's not much sales and marketing. His wine sell out but if he were more of a maven, they would have been snapped up on release (for 50% more money). They're not only great wines but he ages them long enough so that you can taste how good they are now even though you know they will be better in a few years. The vast majority of non modern Baroli tasted were almost undrinkable on release, even for an expert, so there's always a risk that those wines won't turn out to be what you expect. Not these. They are ready for business and will only get better.
2015 Franco Conterno Barolo Panerole - $41.99 ($159.96 4-pack)
2013 Franco Conterno Barolo Riserva Bussia - $51.99 ($199.96 4-pack)
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