TN: La Azienda Agricola Marenca Barolo Riserva Speciale 1967 (Piero Lanzavecchia)

Posted by: fraser

TN: La Azienda Agricola Marenca Barolo Riserva Speciale 1967 (Piero Lanzavecchia) - 10-23-2016 07:56:37

La Azienda Agricola Marenca Barolo Riserva Speciale 1967 (Piero Lanzavecchia)

13.2% in a 720 ml format.

The producer on this bottle is not obvious. Lanzavechia is in small print in a bunch of verbiage about the origin of the wine and Marenca is in small print on the capsule.

So from the "farm" of Marenca in Serralunga, the Lanzavecchia family produced this Barolo. Marenca-Rivette is the vineyard that Gaja bought in 1989 for his Sperrs Barolo. Lanzavecchia bought Villadoria around 1967 and maintained both labels. Villadoria was known for having the vieyard that was sold to Gaja. But since this wine is listed as the Marenca "farm" and since both wineries had the same owner, both Lanzavecchia and Villadoria must be sourced from Marenca-Rivette. Maybe Villadoria was a label with export connections while the Lanzavechia was sold locally. Just guessing.

I had this wine a year back and it was oxidized/undrinable. It didn't have the Azienda Agricola Marenca designation but just said Lanzavecchia. I would guess they were just bottling with the materials that they had and there isn't any difference between the wines. I also have a 1978 from Lanzavecchia that I have yet to try.

The cork came out in one piece barely and the fill was decent. I smelled the wine and decided against decanting as it was beautiful and I didn't even get the cork off the corkscrew before you could smell the wine a few feet away.

Cool and fresh nose. Rose-bomb-ish. Intense rose nose. On the palate it was cool, fresh, crisp and precise. Gets deeper and has a sweet aspect to it. Not drying or austere. Caramel, pine needles, meat and mushroom. Nose gets deeper. Rich and smooth. Resolved, no structure and a little bit of tannins. My wife said, "Amazing" and "Incredible". I wasn't quite with my wife on this one but this was a very good bottle of aged Serralungan wine. Very typical and sweet with a great texture. This is a great time to drink 1967 from Serralunga. It improved a little bit after opening but not tons. A little bit of sediment but not a lot.

Really great showing with the roast duck and morel gravy. I think this wine will last for awhile but obviously at peak or beyond. I was pleased as I have gotten paranoid about my really old wines after storing them upright for 8 months in a wine storage facility. No complaints about the place but for old corks on the verge, it may not have been the best idea.

So, drinking 1967 "Sperrs" for a fraction of the price! Brilliant! I love figuring out how to drink fantastic wine at low-ish prices!

Thanks
Fraser