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Written by foodie pam
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Monday, 11 June 2012 |
 Have you heard of Marchesi di Barolo? It's an Italian winery in Barolo that has imported wine into the US since the 50's.
I hadn't heard of them until a recent tasting event I attended that was hosted by their new distributor Wildman & Sons. The event was to welcome Marchesi di Barolo and as part of the celebration we tasted select vertical and horizontal flights of Marchesi di Barolo vintages from the 1970's through 2010.
Typically in such a tasting I will find a few wines that I enjoy and some I don't. To my amazement I enjoyed all of the Marchesi di Barolo wines and found several that were knock outs.
 Marchesi di Barolo, founded in the 19th century, is now run by the 5th generation of Abbona family members Ernesto and Anna Abbona. Ermesto is the wine maker while his wife Anna serves as the face of the winery. Anna's friendly, outgoing and delightful personality was only second to the quality of her husband's wine at the event. The next generation wine maker and marketer, that is Ernesto and Anna's son and daughter, were also present spreading the word on the winery. With each tasting the family shared details on how the wine was made along with how the grapes grew that year and how both affected the resulting wine.
All of the wine I tasted was very good. Of course some stood out more than others but I would gladly drink any of it again. The vertical tasting of 1970, 1980, 1990, 2000, 2001 and 2003 Barolo Riserva was very interesting. Over the years the winery made some changes in how the wine was produced adding some more modern techniques. The changes were evident in the vertical and highlighted that modern techniques can improve wine. My favorite wine in the vertical was the 1990, although the 1980 was also exceptional with all of the older wines still very alive. However, I found the horizontal tasting of 2007 Barolo's more practical since those are wines I (and you) have a chance of enjoying again… These included the Coste di Rose, Cannubi, Sarmassa and del commune di Barolo. The Barolo Sarmassa was my favorite. It had a deep red color, aromas of vanilla, licorice and a full bodied taste with blended spicy and woody notes. I also particularly enjoyed the Barolo 2006 Tradizione.
Following this event I sought out some other Barolo wines to see if my love of Barolo wine was a result of the dedication of Marchesi di Barolo or the just the flavors of Barolo grapes. After trying three other non-descript Barolos I am confident that I do like Barolo's in general, but that the Marchessi di Barolo are indeed special and worth seeking out.
Disclosure: Samples of products discussed in this post may have been provided to Project Foodie by publicists and/or manufacturers.
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 10 June 2012 )
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