Riccardi Candiani Barbaresco 1990 Sori dei Gallina

14%

I didn't plan to buy this but got it when I received a credit from a store. No mention of Sori dei Gallina from the store so I was pleased to get the wine and see that. Sori is the top favored spot in a vineyard, typically.

"The Wine Atlas of the Langhe", in the Neive section, has an interview with the "The parish benefice" where he states that he saw things changing in 1961 in Barbaresco but that some, "like the Conte of Neive, Guido Riccardi Candiani, had failed to notice which way the wind was blowing. In fact it was then that he sold all his holdings, about 10 cascine and the castle to" the present owner of Punset at that time, who turned around and sold the castle and 8 of the cascine. Castello di Neive was the buyer of the castle and the subsequent San Stefano vineyard. So a classic case of selling low.

So what Riccardi was doing between 1961 and 1990 when this wine was produced, who knows. I'm assuming it's the same person but perhaps run by his descendants.

Evidently Gallina is a large vineyard and buyers had plenty of good choices there because of the size.

I was also "faked out" by this wine as well. I uncorked it and the aroma was superior. I thought, this will be a really nice wine. I didn't decant much at that rate. With dinner, I was also "faked out" as the taste starts out really nice and then it just vanishes. Like a river into the desert sands. A little bit of an ending but nothing at all in the middle. Quite unusual in my experience as when you get past the damaged wines, they are almost always pretty good to great in Piedmont. This wasn't damaged as far as I could tell but had zero middle. There were no notes to take because there were no notes to take! Pencil and paper were ready. It had a spicy, lively, acidic attack which was nice. The nose was nice. But...... So not recommended. But it improved a tiny bit when I had the dregs 4 days later. Not enough though.

And the dinner didn't cut it either - goose leg that wasn't very pleasant for some reason. Tossed the recipe. I guess goose leg is very popular in Germany and England (holidays)?

Thanks
Fraser


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Riccardi Candiani Barbaresco 1990 Sori dei Gallina.JPG