Vintage report: Barolo 2012 & Barbaresco 2013
Contrasting fortunes in the home of the world’s finest Nebbiolo wines, says Ian D’Agata: Barolo lovers will need to tread carefully with the 2012s, whereas 2013 has produced a showcase vintage of compelling quality for neighbouring Barbaresco
The inside track from Ian D’Agata on these distinctly contrasting vintages, and his pick of the new releases
ThERE is No escaping the fact that, thanks to nature’s all-important role, some vintages are better than others, and therein lies the beauty of wine and wine collecting. in this light, focusing on Piedmont, it’s clear Barbaresco’s 2013 vintage falls into the ‘better’ category, while Barolo 2012 will be remembered as one of the ‘other’ vintages.
simply put, while 2013 was a very good to outstanding vintage in both Barolo and Barbaresco, 2012 was not. The former year delivered plenty of delicious and ageworthy red wines, while the wines from 2012 in Piedmont are generally very uneven in quality. The best 2012 Barolos are easily accessible and offer plenty of early appeal, but less successful wines can be dilute, fruit-challenged and marred by tough, green tannins.
‘Rich and cellarworthy, the 2013 Barbarescos will prove lovely, complex wines’
The 2012 Barolos
A look at the weather during the grapevine’s growth cycle tells you a great deal about what the wines will be like that year, and it’s no
different in Barolo in 2012. Things didn’t start off auspiciously, with a brutally cold winter segueing into a rainy and cool spring. April was especially cool – so much so that it even snowed briefly, which is a rare occurrence in Italy, even in a northern region like Piedmont.
May was characterised by alternating warm and cool days, but the generally poor weather delayed the vines’ flowering, resulting in an irregular fruit set, and leading to bunches of grapes with different and uneven ripeness levels and lower potential yields.
By contrast, June and July were noteworthy for almost extreme heat, but 2012’s topsyturvy weather came to the fore once again that summer with not one but two hailstorms damaging vines in July and August (the towns of Barolo and La Morra were hit hardest). Damage was less than initially feared; clearly, quality-conscious producers who worked extra hard to remove damaged grapes fared best.
Unfortunately, there was no respite after that, the miserable weather continuing with late-August and early-September rains; at least late-ripening Nebbiolo (most estates picked in the first 10 days of October) weathered this setback well – whereas earlier-ripening varieties with thin skins such as Moscato Bianco and Dolcetto fared less well.
I visit Barolo and Barbaresco three to four times a month, every month. I walk in the vineyards and taste wines from barrel regularly, and so can easily grasp individual vintage character. Clearly, buying 2012 Barolos will require a little homework and extra care. For the most part, these wines reflect their cool-climate origin, showcasing bright
acidity and easygoing, bright fruit – a combination that gives juicy, accessible wines, explaining the early appeal already mentioned.
Another positive is that 2012 Barolos have, due to the year’s lower daily temperatures, lower alcohol levels than the 2011 Barolos, for example. Unfortunately, many 2012s are marred by tough (and at times downright green) tannins, most likely a result of uneven flowering, delayed fruit set and differing ripening times even within the same bunch.
For all these reasons, 2012 is not a vintage in which to look for site-specificity and to try and discern which Barolo commune fared best (seemingly every wine writer’s favourite sport, but a pointless exercise in 2012). Rather, 2012 Barolos have to be thought of and bought in terms of single-estate proficiency, and only those estates that spent much elbow grease in removing damaged grapes – a tiring, timeconsuming and usually manual job – did well.
A little patience
For comparison’s sake, my opinion is that the 2012 Barolos are most reminiscent of the 1998 Barolos: wines that have developed better than originally expected but that remain tannic and tough even almost 20 years later. I doubt that the 2012s will behave much differently, though I do believe that they will end up, in time, showing a little more fruit than the 1998s ever have.
Last but not least, you might also read about comparisons between the Barolos of 2012 and those of 2005 and 2008. Simply put, these are wrong, misleading and unfair, so don’t be fooled by that often self-serving hype.
Though the wines of 2012 and 2005 share similarly lithe frames, the latter was a grossly underrated year from the start, and has given us many lovely, perfumed wines of infinite charm. And 2008 is one of the most classic and truly great Barolo vintages in some time, producing a plethora of simply magnificent, remarkably well-balanced wines.
Most Barolo producers I spoke with this spring and summer acknowledged that 2012 was certainly difficult, but less so than many reports in the press indicated. Orlando Pecchenino of the Pecchenino estate, and also president of the Barolo consorzio, believes that criticism of the 2012 wines has been excessive: ‘Personally I find many wines have ripe tannins and a long finish and offer plenty of refinement and grace.’
Mariacristina Oddero of Oddero predicts: ‘2012 may very well turn out like other vintages that were unfairly judged at the outset, such as 1998, 2005 or 2008. What the 2012s need most is time in the bottle, as they are currently shut down and inexpressive; but I think they’ll come round.’
The 2013 Barbarescos
In a nutshell, 2013 looks to be a classic, outstanding vintage for Barbaresco. I have
‘Comparing 2012 Barolos with those of 2005 and 2008 is wrong, misleading and unfair’
tasted nothing but great wines, one after another, over the past six months or so. The growing season was less uneven than in 2012, with warm, stable temperatures throughout most of the summer and a very long, ideal autumn that allowed for long hang-times – always the key to making perfumed, complex Nebbiolo wines. In fact, whenever I visited Barbaresco’s wineries and vineyards, producers there kept telling me that 2013 was one of the latest October harvests they could remember.
In my opinion, the 2013 Barbarescos look to be just as good if not better than the 2010 Barbarescos (the latter was not as successful a vintage in Barbaresco as it was in Barolo). The one caveat in 2013 is lower than usual yields because of an atypically severe outbreak of downy mildew in the early spring. Those who didn’t treat their vines in a timely fashion risked suffering major crop losses.
Nevertheless, in ultimate analysis, the 2013 Barbarescos are luscious, compelling wines that boast harmonious acidities and deep-seated sweetness. Rich and cellarworthy, they will prove lovely, complex wines that will be drinking best 10 to 20 years after the vintage date.
Award-winning wine writer Ian D’Agata’s next book, due in 2017, is on Barolo and Barbaresco. He is creative director of Collisioni, Italy’s biggest wine, music and literature fair, held annually in Barolo
‘2012 may very well turn out like other vintages that were unfairly judged at the outset’ Mariacristina Oddero (above)