10/17/09

Barolo, 'Cicala', Aldo Conterno 1995

I thought this wine would be tight as a drum.  Well, honestly I was afraid it would suck, and I have  5 more bottles.  I've had more than three decades worth of Cicala, and not one example has ever been 'ready'.  I'm wasn't even sure that this part of Bussia was capable of making wine that would ever evolve into the synergy that is great Barolo.  I've often thought Cicala and Colonello should just be blended into one wine.....

Murky Nebbiolo orange-ish pink with some neon flecks.

Nose is instantly promising and somewhat worrisome.  Flowers mingle with blood, tar and nuts.  It smells great, but with a slight oxidative character and just little wisps of dried fruit.  It's 50/50 whether the wine will improve with air or shut down.

Over the next two hours we are rewarded with something special.  The first hour smacks of classic barolo, smelling multi-communal with fig, raspberry, minerals, tar, white flowers and a slight ferrous quality.  It most reminds me of a Bartolo, but not as fine.

The second hour is where the wine really shines.  It became quintessential Bussia with the fruit and flowers taking on a purple-y kind of quality with baking spices, and considerable sweetness.  It had all of the deep spine tingling qualities one could want from a wine from monforte, and in Barolo in general.

Through the first two stages of evolution the palate was thin to watery with Cicala's typically agonizing tannin and tongue splitting acid.  I didn't really mind.  I knew what I was in for when I opened it.

Anyway, for those that stick around for the third act, it's pretty amazing.  The middle fills in, concentration falls right in line and the flavors start to mimic the nose.  There's tons of dried fruits with fig and raisin yielding to the bright raspberry and more purple flowers.   Cinnamon and clove mingle with white truffle boosted by just a touch of VA. The VA is like salt on a perfectly cooked steak, making the wine taste more of itself rather than presenting as a flaw.

The wine is great, and only going to get better.

For those who say Aldo's wines aren't good anymore, you are wrong.  This wine proves it, and if you are lucky, I might just share one of my remaining bottles.

Oh, and for the haters, yes, some of AC's wines do suck.  Just not the Barolo.  (with the exception of the '96 Granbussia.  That wine was piss)