I purchased a case of these at wallyworld on clearance; ended up being $10 each at checkout. This is my third bottle. I was excited knowing that this is respected here but, never having had one before my first, I was disappointed.
Notes from my third try:
Gently decanted, tasted immediately.
Nose is tart cherries. Not much else is making its way through.
High acidity, tart cherries and faint tobacco. Lingering bitterness.
Im leaving it in the decanter overnight and grabbing a 2021 San Silvestro Barolo to go with my pizza. I’ll post an update below.
by kleindinstein5000
6 Comments
Does it taste/smell like stewed porty fruit? The fresh tart flavors you described don’t seem like that of a cooked wine.
It could just be going through a dumb phase. I’ve had Barolo/Barbaresco in the 7-10 year range that was totally shut down and not giving anything on the nose or palate.
I had a carafe of 2019 Fontanafredda Barolo at Eataly recently and sent it back b/c I thought it had been open too long. They brought me a new one from a freshly opened bottle and it had the same slight VA notes. It eventually opened up nicely. I checked cellar tracker and there were other mentions of very light VA/acetone notes from freshly opened bottles.
Pretty sure this is the Costco barolo, great deal there if you come across
Ive had a lot of barolo in my life and that color is not a good sign for a 9 year old Nebbiolo. Nebbiolo is famous for easily oxidizing in terms of its color which leads a lot of Pinot and Cab drinkers to think its off but that is VERY advanced for a 2016 (which yes is a wonderful vintage). Without seeing the cork hard to say if its cooked but there should be much more red at the center than brown for such a young wine. The sad fact is, Fontanafredda is historically a significant producer but they havent actually made great wine since the 1980’s – they have gotten better in recent years but better than the bottom of the barrel. I dont know if the case is cooked or frankly if the wine wasnt much good on release 5 years ago.
These are the exact tasting notes I would expect from a 9 year old Fontanafredda. It’s a $30 bottle of Barolo. Is it just the color that is making you think it’s off? If it were oxidized there wouldn’t be much fruit at all.
Unfortunately, all of the top Piedmont wines have gone the way of Burgundy and I think there’s around a $100+ price cap to taste the super typical, excellent examples.
I tried the Massolino Margheria 2017 on Saturday and it’s probably the best modern example of “typical” Barolo I’ve ever had.
The white wines from this producer are a lot better by the way