TNR: 2004 Grasso Barolo & 2004 Manzone Barolo

[Blanquito]

Another tasting note request, or at least an opinion on these two barolos...

2004 Elio Grasso Barolo Ginestra Vigna Casa Mate - AND - 2004 Giovanni Manzone Barolo Gramolere

Not that I need more wine (though Barolo is poorly represented in my cellar), but these have been discounted locally to $45.

Thanks.

[Comte Flaneur]

I have not tried these but they are both excellent producers, and the 2004 vintage in Piedmont is equivalent to the 2005 vintage in Bordeaux...every 2004 barolo I have had has been superb, for example a straight Pio Cesare recently. If you can afford it I would buy a case of each.

I just looked them up in the WBG...they both rate 94 ...therefore you should hire a van....

[Houndsong]

Go. For. It.

[Blanquito]

Thanks for the info/enablement... I just know so little about Barolo (except that I love it when opened by Nebbiolo-knowledgable winos).

I'm gonna get 4 of each.

I assume that I shouldn't touch them for 15+ years.

[Comte Flaneur]

Yeah probably Patrick...but some of these wines drink incredibly well young...I would (a) buy at least six of each and (b) pop one of each ITNOS, and if necessary leave it and analyse it in a decanter over a period of days. FWIW I am accumulating more barolo these days than anything else...at those prices it is impossible to resist...the most exciting wines in the world are being made in Piedmont imho.

[Tom In DC]

My buying pattern is usually 7 (or 8 if I've heard the wine is drinking well young) to allow for an "In the name of science" bottle (or two) and six more for whenever I think and/or hear that the wine will have gotten to a good place.

If you buy 4 bottles, you might drink one now (lots of '04's are still open for business, but they will shut down hard soon!) just to get more data on what fine Barolo tastes like young, which will be helpful later on when you taste some unknown Piemonte wine and are trying to assess its quality.

And I've gotta agree with the "gentleman stroller of city streets" that Barolo and Barbaresco are among the best "targets of opportunity" in today's wine market. Folks who want to take the wine home to drink tonight can ignore this advice, but great old Nebbiolo is a real treat (and much, much cheaper than comparable Burgundies) if you have the inclination to stash the wines away for a decade or more.

[Comte Flaneur]

Tom - I concede that I am a stroller but deny being a loiterer!

So I had a bad experience with a batch of (what I believed to be) mildly corked Lagrange 1996s, so I took them back to exchange for some more of my beloved Ceppallano (a wine I have more than a crush on)...but I could not help noticing some of the Manzone Gramolere 04...so I popped one last night and though initially the 'woman she doth protest too much' she opened up to be a veritable beauty, as light on her feet as a ballet dancer; a triumphant wine contriving to combine the best of the old and the new...mind you I think you may be on to an even better thing with the Grasso...

Tonight I had a much raunchier old fashioned barolo - an old school-school marm who liked to roll out in the hay - the aptly named Cavallotto Barolo Bricco Boschis 1998

[Blanquito]

Were these your 1996 Lagranges' from the Wine Connection? They honored the return? Inquiring minds want to know.

[Comte Flaneur]

Yes only unopened bottles - there was something decidedly dodgy about that batch - they were all (mildly) corked....everyone...apparently ex-chateauu....nowhere in the same league as the one you brought that gave Jim's LLC a good run for its money...