- And Prices Don't Change
- And That's When You Stock Up
- Today Is One of Those Days...Big Time
2016 Barolo
- One of the Top Vintages of the Past Decade
- Amidst the Chaos, A Remarkable Buying Opportunity
- Maybe As Good As 2010
2016 Tomaso Gianolio Barolo
- $29.99 (on a Case) Great Barolo You Can Drink Every Day!
- Fruit Quality is Astonishing
- Gorgeous Big Cherry
- Cassis Fruit, Tar, Roses, Spice and Mineral
- Palate is Just Plain Awesome
- Big, Incredibly Juicy and Shows Perfectly Ripe and Healthy Nebbiolo
- Lip Smacking, Succulent Finish
- Rose Petal Licorice, Spice
- Incredible Freshness
- Refined and Elegant
2018 Tomaso Gianolio Barbera d'Alba Superiore
- Drink This and Try to Be Unhappy - I Dare You
- A Beautiful Example of What Traditional Barbera Should Be
- Gorgeously Delicious and Fruity
- Wonderful to Have with Simple Fare like Pizza
- Nose: Leap out of the Glass Grapey Barbera Freshness
- Palate: Beautiful Soft, Sweet, Delicious Fruit
- An Elegance that Belies Its Simplicity
"The result is a vintage full of truly spectacular, breathtaking wines that captures all the pedigree that Nebbiolo and Barolo are capable of."Antonio Galloni on 2016 Barolo
"Wow! This is incredible, I can't believe I paid $29.99 for this. I should have bought much more." You in 6 Months
When I visit the Langhe, I pretty much have to devote almost an entire day to Tomasso Gianolio. His cellar is about an hour from everything else and he is allowed to vinify there because he was grandfathered (most Barolo and Barbaresco has to be vinified in DOCG).
So Tomaso is a bit of an unknown even in Italy. He thrives my making stunningly consistent wines year in and year out. Every wine in every vintage is drinkable (deliciously so) within 5 minutes of opening the bottle. In difficult vintages, maybe the wines are a bit shorter lived, of course. But they are always good.
Tomaso Gianolio's 2016sOf course, in great years, his wines are fantastic and he doesn't raise the prices. So you reap the benefit of having great Barolo from a great producer at the standard price. These are the wines that you look back and regret not buying more. A lot more.
In 2016 Tomaso was handed a great vintage and he hit ... it ... out ... of ... the ...ballpark. I'm not talking an opposite field dinger that snuck over the opposite field fence. I'm talking a full on Pete Alonso 121 mph exit velocity bomb. He managed to combine his traditional balance and elegance with a dramatic intensity and structure derived from the 2016 vintage. 2016 was a perfect year and winemakers who know how to harvest were able to combine that ripe fruit with balance to create some of the best Langhe wines of the decade. We're talking close to the legendary 2010s.
The Prices
I just hooked up Davide with a UK distributor who was blown away by these wines. He carries Ceretto, Le Machioche and Egon Muller to name a few. He could not believe how great these wines
were for almost no money. The guy has one of the top palates I know of and is a great taster.
Most importer retailers would, in their right minds, charge $49.99 for the Barbaresco and $29.99 for the Barbera and call it a bargain. And they'd be right. As I noted, Davide Gianolio is a laid back guy who'd rather work in the vineyards than tote a sample bag around Turin and Milan to increase sales. So I don't pay a lot for these wines. That's what happens when you have an undiscovered winery - the wines are cheap. Qualitatively, these are $60+ and $35+. Especially in this vintage, these are screaming values. If you want to look a gift horse in the mouth, you are free to do so. I can say without hesitation that these are both one off crazy values deserving case purchases.
The 2016 Tomaso Gianolio Barolo can be had for $32.99 on a 4-pack and $29.99 on a case purchase. This is an absolutely a case purchase as this should be $50-$60 dollar wine. No questions. 2016 Barolo brings the power and more importantly the fruit. The fruit quality is astonishing. These are thrilling young wines. Think 2015/2016 Northern Rhone married for a comparable vintage assessment. It is a vintage that has that bit of extra in every aspect of the wine. Fruit, structure, depth, acids, tannins, aromas and umami. They are sick, sick wines.
Superb aromas that really make me understand the expression that it takes two noses to truly take in the perfume of a great Barolo. Just gorgeous big cherry and even some mild cassis fruit, tar, roses, spice and mineral. It's like a bazaar and potpourri emporium on a freshly paved road on a hot day. The nose is so utterly refined and classic. It's just stunning. There is a subtlety to Nebbiolo aromas I can't get over. It's so nuanced and wild yet so refined. It makes me get why there is a cult surrounding Nebbiolo.
The palate is just plain awesome. I easily drank a glass with a lunch that this was served with which was a traditional Piedmontese boiled beef that kind of reminded me of brisket but way better. The palate is just authoritative. It's big, incredibly juicy and shows perfectly ripe and healthy Nebbiolo from exalted terroir. It has such a wonderful density to its fruit, yet also is littered with minerals, flowers and spices. It has incredible freshness due to the harmonious and wonderfully ripe acids. It's so deep and so fruity and so ripe one cannot stop drinking this. It's also refined and elegant and has wonderful subtlety. The finish pumps out fruit and is just explosive and lasts minutes. The beef softened it up and enabled me to easily finish a healthy glass. It kept changing and I wish I had more time to spend with it.. The wine is really really really impressive and I never say this but everyone who can needs to buy a case. You'll be very happy you did.
The second wine is the 2018 Tomasso Gianolio Barbera d'Alba Superiore for $19.99 on a 4 pack purchase. The newsflash of the year is that Barolo is "better" than the Barbera. But, like all more complex wines, it is not always the better wine to have with every dish or in every occasion. Winemakers have been trying to make more "serious" Barbera in recent years. Some of them are very good and some are just either oakier or just more serious. This Barbera is a beautiful example of what traditional Barbera should be. The wine is profoundly delicious and in 2019, Langhe Nebbiolo, Barbera and Dolcetto are some of the best I've tasted. Brilliant vintage for these wines. A wine that is gorgeously delicious and fruity and wonderful to have with simple fare like pizza or just to guzzle with close friends. It's a very, very good bottle of wine and really well made.
The nose just has that leap out of the glass grapey Barbera freshness that just makes you almost cry with happiness almost like say, great entry level Riesling. Really, really bright but also complicated by spice and even a hint of oolong tea.
The palate is just beautiful soft, sweet, delicious fruit with, of course, balancing Fass Selections acidity and juiciness. It has a much longer finish than it should have. You really need to watch how much you drink of this - it's that good. The finish is just delicious with the barest hint of bitterness that balances the fruit. While the wines have that fantastic Barbera fruit, there is an elegance that belies their simplicity. Everything is just in place. These are aged 12 months in large old casks.
2016 Tomaso Gianolio Barolo - $34.99
($131.96 4-pack, $359.88 12 bottle case {$29.99!})
($131.96 4-pack, $359.88 12 bottle case {$29.99!})
2018 Tomaso Gianolio Barbera d'Alba - $21.99 ($79.96 4-pack)
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