The Perfect Ones - Part 19 & 20

Roberto Voerzio´s cellar - I voluntered to sleep here but Roberto declined...

It has been a while since the last chapter in this series. Anyway, these two bottles below make up number 19 and 20 of my "perfect" wines. If I had to obey to any other rules than my own, these two maybe wouldn´t even make the list. We´re talking about two barrel samples here.

On a glorious October day in 2006 we arrived at Azienda Agricola Roberto Voerzio and was meet at the gates by the man himself. Full of energy and seemingly enjoying the visit of three Swedish wine enthusiasts, he immediately asked if we would like to taste all his 2004 Barolo´s from barrel.
Is the pope catholic?, would have been the rhetorical question, if we would have given the chance - Roberto was already heading down the stairs to the cellars.

While chatting in his rapid tempo, mostly in Italian, sometimes in French and occasionally in German, he kept pouring the seven different 2004 Barolo´s that lied in long rows of barriques.

And the quality was amazing. Yet there was big differences between those seven wines, although they came from the same commune - La Morra. They have been nurtured in the same way in the vineyard, they have been given exactly the same treatment in the cellar. And still seven different characters. That´s the soil, the terroir talking directly to you. A fascinating experience.

They were poured to us in this order by Roberto. First we got a taste of the Cerequio which had a classic Barolo nose with red berries, roses and asphalt, and a taste on those lines with a fine elegance (92p). The Riserva vecchie viti dei Capalot e delle Brunate was up next with lots of power and structure, both on the nose and in the mouth. Very dense and concentrated yet harmonious and simply gorgeous (97p).
The following wine, the Rocche dell´Annunziata Torriglione oozed of violets, tar and sweet red cherries with a complementary taste of spices, licorice and red cherries. Luscious and creamy (95p). Time stood still when I sniffed and tasted the Fossati Case Nere, see below. The Brunate had an uncompromising, tight structure but I could sense the sweet, delicious fruit under the wall of tannins and acidity (92p).
The last but one was the La Serra and this stunning creature was all about ceps, rosehips and sweet spices with a taste that took a firm grip of my olfactory senses with its dark fruit, licorice and a iron taste that was impressive (96p). Roberto had saved, along with the Fossati, the best for last. The Sarmassa di Barolo was perfection in the glass from the first sniff until the last drop had run down my throat, see below.



Roberto himself - photos from their website (I can´t find my own for the moment...)

2004 Barolo Fossati Case Nere, Roberto Voerzio
This perfect specimen has a deep, powerful yet graceful nose filled to the brim with notes of red cherries, dried mushrooms, rosehips, tea leaves and licorice. So intense, so pure, so perfect.
I have just noted - "the taste is perfect" - you couldn´t be more clear than that, could you? I have also noted things like "supernatural", "ethereal", "gorgeous", and some expressions of a more strong language...
100p   (tasted 2006/10)

2004 Barolo Sarmassa di Barolo, Roberto Voerzio
If possible, this should get more than 100p. It is that good. Or perfect. I remember that I couldn´t stand still when tasting this, leading Roberto to ask me if something was wrong. There wasn´t. I just had drunk some of the best wine that had entered my mouth. He seemed glad when I told him why I behaved like I did.
Words seems so inadequate when trying to describe something that it out of reach of description. Just trust me, wine doesn´t get better than this. Maybe equal, but never better.
100p   (tasted 2006/10)