Buying wine is especially fun when you feel like you are getting in on the ground floor of something big. As SommSelect Editorial Director David Lynch explains below, this 2012 Barolo from Tiziano Grasso is not merely an excellent wine but a prelude to breakout stardom in one of the world’s most entrenched appellations.
Loving Italian wine as I do, I’m always game for some tasting table booster-ism, especially when it comes at the expense of the French. Don’t get me wrong: I love French wine, and I acknowledge, however grudgingly, that it remains the standard by which all other wines of the world are judged—but every so often it’s nice to knock the battery off the Frenchman’s shoulder, so to speak (apologies to anyone under 45 for that reference). Adding to the appeal of this truly first-rate Barolo is the impact it made at a recent tasting of ours, which included several prestige-level red Burgundies—even the avowed Francophile Ian Cauble proclaimed it the best wine on the table! For my part, I’d say it’s the best 2012 Barolo I’ve tasted to date, as well as the first Barolo I’ve tasted from Tiziano Grasso. As it turns out, it’s the first Barolo anyone has tasted from the Tiziano Grasso family—2012 was the inaugural release from their small estate, La Briccolina, and what an impressive debut it is. Sourced from their holdings in the “Briccolina” vineyard in the village of Serralunga, it is at once powerful and graceful, radiating energy and aromatic intrigue from start to finish. This is a real gem from a ‘new’ producer that has shot right to the top of my must-have list.
Of course, there’s nothing new about La Briccolina the farm—it has been in the Grasso family since 1922—just the La Briccolina label. The Grasso family house is perched at the top of the “Briccolina” vineyard, above a perfect south-facing amphitheater of vines that eventually tilts westward, as so many Serralunga crus do. Briccolina is situated along an undulating slope that also includes “Ornato” (made famous by Pio Cesare) and “Falletto” (Bruno Giacosa), and for many years the Grassos sold their fruit to others, while Tiziano worked at Barolo landmark Fontanafredda. Another Barolo stalwart, Batasiolo, was the main recipient of the Grassos’ Briccolina fruit, but Tiziano’s son, Daniele—who worked at Batasiolo—encouraged his parents to take the next step and set aside some choice grapes for themselves. Starting in 2012, they made a strict selection from their 5.5 hectares, sourcing from 50-year-old Nebbiolo vines to craft about 3,000 bottles. Not only is this wine a gem, it’s a rare one.
This is a ‘traditional’ style of Barolo in the sense that is was aged two years in large (20-hectoliter) Slavonian oak botti, but this wine stood out as an exceptionally refined, even polished example of Serralunga Barolo. Conventional wisdom on this village is that it produces the burliest, most tannic examples of Barolo, but this wine carries its considerable power with grace: the tannins are extremely fine-grained and the fruit flavors clean and perfumed. As I said above, it out-Burgundied the Burgundies during our tasting (although ultimately it is a bigger, darker-toned wine all around).
In the glass, La Briccolina’s 2012 is a deep, reflective garnet moving to pink and a hint of orange at the rim, with an expressive nose of black and red cherry, black raspberry, plum, blood orange peel, pipe tobacco, fresh roses and violets, underbrush, and freshly turned earth. It is full-bodied but beautifully focused, with tannins that are firm but not sharp. The wine has amazing mineral drive, a long, floral finish, and an overall refinement that brings to mind the Barolos of Bruno Giacosa—one of the deftest hands of them all. For a relatively young wine it blooms nicely after 45-60 minutes in a decanter, and, perhaps not surprisingly, the open bottle I took home from our tasting was still singing three days later. This is a 20-year wine that is only going to appreciate in value, and I worry what’s going to happen to its price/availability once more sommeliers get a taste of it. For now I’m content to sip this delicious wine, slowly, with a wintry braise of some sort; maybe something French, just for kicks. Enjoy!
— David Lynch
