Luigi Giordano Barbaresco Montestefano Riserva 1990

14% - Imported by The Rare Wine Co, CA

My second bottle of Montestefano and my first of Luigi Giordano. Their earliest single vineyard bottlings were from the Cavanna vineyard in the '70's at least. Apart from that I don't know much about them. Here's their link: https://www.luigigiordano.it/?lang=us

I read recently that this was the last vintage before they tore this vineyard out and replanted. Indeed you do not see much of his Montestefano until the 2000's.

The oxtail ragu takes a long time to cook. I got a late start and so drank the wine when I was very tired and was surprised to wake up the next morning and read the positive notes I made. It felt a little wasteful of a special wine. "Excellent. Roses and decaying leaves. Poignant nose. Has time to go. Classic with tomato. Richness emerging." Montestefano is known as one of the most Barolo-like of the Barbaresco vineyards but I couldn't find the association here. Probably I haven't drunk enough Barbaresco to know the difference. Montestefano is next to Cole and near Montefico in the town of Barbaresco itself

I made up for feeling wasteful by drinking the half glass of this wine that was left out overnight. Usually those aren't very wonderful the next day but this was quite good with my morning tea/routine. Relatively ripe and very easy to drink. Paired well with the tea (Keemun). This was the third and last glass from the decanter poured the night before. I was surprised to see all sorts of fine sediment in the bottom of this glass as I left a whole 'nother glass in the bottle and didn't decant it. The wine had been stood up for several weeks and I'm pretty good at decanting off the sediment although I didn't use a light. Never had that happen before. The last glass from the bottle drank 24 hours after opening was quite good as well although it had lost complexity or I wasn't drinking it with food. So I guess I'll be looking forward to drinking my next one but I won't be in a hurry either. With oxtail ragu which I'm not going to make again.

Thanks
Fraser


Attachments
Luigi Giordano Barbaresco Montestefano Riserva 1990.JPG