2006 Barolo; Oddero cherry, meat, earth, stewed cranberry, wild strawberry, tar, decaying roses, wild rose bush, perfume, herbs, soft structure, soil, coffee, chocolate, plum, nice poise and elegance, fairly complex, approachable but somehow leaving me a bit cold. Nice freshness, a touch herby and suffering from old wood. More earthy, mineral, saline sandy character coming through with air. Good length, classically built but somehow it is old before its time, again. ***** or [4+4.5+4.5+4=17/20]
Maybe it's no defect then at all. You scored it well and said it tastes good. So maybe they've found how to make a young Barolo taste aged, i.e., like it should.
I don't have much experience with this producer. The last I had was Oddero Rocche Castglione 1996 which
I liked quite a lot. It was similar to the TN although I thought the 96 had more years ahead of it. Good to to know about issues with recent Oddero as I was eyeing some.
I see that Barolo 2006 as a vintage was/is not without controversy. "Classicists" - and by that I mean some apparently disinterested critics - seem to rate it highly, while there also seems some concern about variability among producers (not that this isn't often the case anyway).
Hound, I can see where the thoughts of it drinking properly young might be appealing, as I did score it well, it was nice and drinking... But if you bought it and cellared it for 20+ years as you would expect from a classicist like this, you might be horribly disappointed, hence my scepticism.
Having had the 2000 of one of their Crus recently as well at the winery. I believe it is a case of if you see them drink up.
