Monday 22 May 2017

1999 Barbera - A Beauty & A Tired Beast

With some home made pizza I opened these two bottles - same vintage, same grape, but miles apart. Both bottles looked fine, good levels and corks, but alas...

1999 Barbera d´Asti La Solista, Romano Dogliotti
Aah, something looked wrong when I poured from the bottle, a muddy, brown liquid. It smells of overripe, overcooked cherries with mud, undergrowth and old, dry chocolate. Dried up sweetness, very dry and a tad alcoholic in the end. Two tastes, that´s all, the rest goes down the drain.
52p   (tasted 2017/05)


1999 Barbera d´Alba, Domenico Clerico
A deep, concentrated nose with a fine maturity and notes of ripe black cherries, dried strawberries, tobacco, violets and some smoke. Very, very good. A very fine dried up sweetness.
The taste is rich and warm with notes of sweet/sour cherries, warm tiles, asphalt and old leather. A long, warm, creamy finish. Really good. Fully mature but bottles like this is no hurry to drink.
91p   (tasted 2017/05)


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