Drinking Tonight - 1985 Barolo Riserva Rocche Di Castiglione, Michele Chiarlo

On this last night of almost three weeks vacation I needed something mature yet sturdy to go along a plate of braised beef. I opted for this, hopefully, mature bottle from Michele Chiarlo. This was bottle 2.326 out of 2.800 produced. Would love to have one or two of the 100 magnums produced...

1985 Barolo Riserva Rocche Di Castiglione, Michele Chiarlo
Upon opening the bottle the nose was locked tight and I decanted it two hours before dinner. And it needed that time. In fact it got better and better all evening.
The nose slowly evolves into a old fashioned Barolo with wonderful notes of warm rosehips, dried cherries, rose petals, red tea, hot gravel, a mushroom forest and coffee grounds. Very expressive yet firm. Very, very good.
The taste is mature, solid and steadfast with fine red fruit and notes of rosehips, lingonberries, bakelite, mushrooms and gravel. There are some old style, a tad foursquare tannins lurking in the background. A long, warm finish that ends dry. I liked this a lot and it was a perfect match with the beef.
91p   (tasted 2015/01)