Red Wine: 1998 | Giacomo Conterno | Barolo Cascina Francia

Amber-edged medium red. Multidimensional nose of rose petal, redcurrant, plum, mocha, minerals and spices. Wonderfully silky and spicy, with lovely harmonious acidity giving it near-perfect balance.

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Producer: Giacomo Conterno

Ratings: WA | 93 ST | 94

Vintage: 1998

Size: 750ml

ABV: 14.5%

Varietal: Nebbiolo

Country/Region: Italy, Piedmont

Amber-edged medium red. Multidimensional nose of rose petal, redcurrant, plum, mocha, minerals and spices. Wonderfully silky and spicy, with lovely harmonious acidity giving it near-perfect balance.

Reviews:

• Wine Advocate: The 1998 Barolo Cascina Francia from Giacomo Conterno is delicate, layered and perfumed, showing gorgeous finesse and lovely inner tension in its fruit. Overall this is a soft, accessible Cascina Francia.

• Stephen Tanzer: Amber-edged medium red. Multidimensional nose of rose petal, redcurrant, plum, mocha, minerals and spices. Wonderfully silky and spicy, with lovely harmonious acidity giving it near-perfect balance. This struck me as distinctly Burgundian in style. Showing lovely fruit and perfume today, and perhaps deceptively drinkable. Finishes with sweet tannins and ineffable perfume. A real essence of Barolo made according to traditional methods, but with uncommon purity of fruit owing to careful elevage I note that this wine knocked me out two years ago as well.

Producer Information

Giacomo Conterno is a widely acclaimed Barolo producer based just outside Monforte d’Alba in the south of the Barolo DOCG zone in Piedmont, northwestern Italy. It is best known for its Cascina Francia and the Monfortino Riserva Barolo labels, both of which are long-lived and earthy. In 1908, Giovanni Conterno opened a small tavern in the village of San Giuseppe, making Barolo to supply the business. The first Riserva was bottled around the time of World War I, and was one of the first examples of producer-bottled Barolo at a time when most were sold in bulk for early consumption. Giovanni’s son Giacomo took over when his father died in 1934, and ran the estate until his death in 1961. His sons, Giovanni and Aldo, worked together until the latter left in 1969 over stylistic differences, forming his own estate. Roberto Conterno, grandson of Giacomo, took charge in 2003. It was in 1974 that Conterno acquired the acclaimed 16-hectare (40-acre) Cascina Francia site in Serralunga d’Alba. This was a promising southwest-facing site on chalky soil, but at the time was a wheat field. Nebbiolo vines were planted and the vineyard’s first vintage was in 1978, after which the reputation of the estate began to soar. In 2009, Conterno purchased the three hectare (7.5 acre) Ceretta plot, which is used to make the Langhe Nebbiolo. Then in 2015 the estate bought the nine hectare (22 acre) Arione vineyard to the south of Serralunga d’Alba. The Monfortino Riserva Barolo is only made in excellent vintages and is aged for at least seven years in very large Slovenian oak casks known as “botti”. Conterno uses this traditional method to make its wines to avoid excessive vanillin sweetness. The Cascina Francia site makes both a single-vineyard Barolo and a Barbera d’Alba. The Langhe Nebbiolo is the estate’s entry-level offering.