Cantina Stroppiana, La Morra

Tasted at the La Morra Degusta, 2 September 2012.

They presented three different Barolos.

First was the 2008 Barolo di base, a very nice wine, light, a "conversation wine".

Second was the 2008 San Giacomo.  A delicate nose leads us to believe that this wine needs extended aging to bring out its full flavors.

Last was the Gabutti Bussia.  This is a very big wine.  The vineyard that this wine comes from is actually in Monforte d'Alba and has very different characteristics than ones you find in La Morra.  This wine really rocked our boats.  It was the wine that we drank when we had tasted all that we had a desire to try.  It was purchased for our cellar when we went to meet with the winemaker at the cantina the next day.  It will remain there for at least two years before opening to see its progress.

We had an opportunity to also taste the 2009 Barolo which was beginning to be bottled in anticipation of a June, 2013 release.  Looking forward to trying it again then.

3 November 2013  For lunch today, we opened a bottle of the Gabutti Bussia 2008.  Natalya had made a pan of Turkish Dolma for lunch and I thought that the Bussia would go very well with it.  It was spectacular. However, we now believe that it needs another year in the cantina for it to reach the beginnings of what is really good grape juice.  I have written Dario to ask for another case of it.

12 December 2013  As we had hoped, Dario had some more of the 2008 Gabutti Bussia.  We picked up another six bottles to put in the cellar.  While we were there, he gave us a taste of the 2013 vintage, straight out of the tanks.  We believe that both that we tasted are going to be fantastic wines.  It will be at least four years before you see them really reviewed.

24 April 2016  Never say that we are in a rush especially when it comes to Barolo.  We have about 70 bottles in our cellar that range from ready to drink to out to 2026.  That being said, we opened another bottle of the 2008 Gabutti Bussia  for lunch today.  The menu was Kung Pao Turkey with basmati rice from India.  The wine was a little shy at first but about ten minutes after opening, it was in full bloom.  We used a closed mouth glass.  We suggest that you open about 15 minutes before serving or wait another three months before opening.  Really good grape juice.  

17 September 2016  As we said before, we are not in any rush to drink our Barolo.  Our collection has grown to about 78 bottles that range from now out to 2026.  Today we prepared a pasta with fresh tomatoes from our garden and some sauteed turkey breast.  We opened a bottle of the 2008 Gabutti Bussia to go with it.  We must say that this bottle was ready to drink.  We will open another bottle within the next few weeks to confirm that our remaining six should be drunk.  In any case, the wine went really well with the dish.  Stay tuned to this station for further information on the 2008 Gabutti Bussia!  If you have it and open a bottle, please let us know how yours is coming along.

15 December 2016  If you have read the entry just above, you know we recommended that you taste a bottle of the 2008 Gabutti Bussia as we thought it was ready to drink.  Today, we opened another of our bottles (leaving 5) and served it with a risotto we made with carnaroli rice, fresh zucca (a type of pumpkin) and turkey breast.  We used a vegetable broth and seasoned it with oregano from Sicily. The risotto was spectacular. The wine was ready to drink about 45 minutes into the meal.  The glass used was a closed mouth.  It is really a very good wine but we will leave our five remaining bottles in the cellar for an additional six months.  More about the wine no earlier that May of 2017!

1 October 2017  We opened another bottle of the 2008 Gabutti Bussia today (ok, we did not open it by May, 2017 as promised) to serve with a soup made with fresh squash and some red potatoes.  Natalya added a bit of the "bomba" I had made this morning.  We also had the spinach/ricotta ravioli that she had made.  Bomba is a Calabrian sauce that is made with hot red peppers, olio di olive extra virgine, a bit of salt and some of our vinegar made with Barbera.  Upon opening, the bottle gave a nose of a Barolo that was a touch past its prime.  However, giving it about 20 minutes, the wine turned into a very nice light Barolo that went well with lunch.  However, we do recommend that you drink the wine now.  It is on its final legs we believe.  We have four bottles left.  Stop by and we will open a bottle to share with you!  We will drink the last four bottles before the end of the year!

8 October 2017  We opened another bottle of the 2008 Gabutti Bussia today for lunch that was a risotto with fresh pumpkin (zucca).  As stated in the entry above, we were concerned that the wine had passed its best days and was on its way down.  We are now thinking that the wine is ready to drink or nearly so.  We have decided to mark the next bottle to open five months from now.  The wine turned out to be quite good toward the end of the bottle, about a hour after it was opened.  Stay tuned!! 

7 January 2018  Today we served the Bussia with a lunch of Russian borsch, chicken sausage using my Sicilian grandmother's recipe and sauteed fresh vegetables.  Went very well.  We recommend you start drinking this wine if you have more than a few in your cellar.

8 February 2018  Obviously we have a number of bottles of this spectacular 2008 Gabutti Bussia but not that many.  Today we served it with zucca (pumpkin) soup and a Russian Pyrog stuffed with vegetables.  At this age, it goes with practically everything.  Highly recommended if you have it in your cellar.

8 April 2018  Today was a sad day.  We opened and drank the last bottle of the 2008 Gabutti Bussia.  While it was very ready to drink, it was what we considered to be a Barolo that had aged to the point where it might go downhill from here.  We served it with Natalya's Turkish Dolma (stuffed grape leaves), preceded by a small fritatta with spinach and eggs from our friend, Rosanna and served with a salad of beets and onions.  The wine held up very well as did the Dolma.  A great wine, ready to drink if you have it.

Elio Grasso, Monforte d'Alba

Tasted at the La Morra Degusta, 2 September 2012.

We had hoped to taste the Gavarini Chinera as presented in the Torino tasting but it was not offered.  This is another stop we will make when there are no crowds to blunt the pleasure of the wine.

Poderi Oddero, La Morra

Tasted at the Degusta in La Morra on 2 September...the wine was one that we had tasted in the Torino presentation.

This was their 2007 Barolo di base, a mixture of several vineyards.  We found it a good example of the grape, one worthy of at least five years in the cantina.  A reasonably priced Barolo that would be good for many cellars.  Widely distributed so look in your local wine shop.

2009 Barolo Tasting in Torino

Regretfully, it was cancelled because the Enoteca Regionale del Barolo and the Palazzo di Barolo in Torino could not reach an agreement as to the date.

Please, everyone, write to the Enoteca and complain.  info@enotecadelbarolo.it

Produttori di Govone, Govone

We visited the Cantina Sociale in Govone on 19 February 2012.  By appearances, this is a modern facility selling a number of different wines produced in the Govone area both in bottles and bulk.

Since we write about Nebbiolo, Barolo and Barbaresco, we chose to taste only those.  All wines were opened for us, a maximum of five minutes before tasting.

The Cantina has a number of Nebbiolos so the person doing the pouring gave us what they consider their best, the Terre Sabaude.

The Terre Sabaude Nebbiolo was 2009, 14% alcohol.  It had a fairly good nose but was quite light in the mouth exhibiting only the grape.  We did not discern any tannin or acid that would balance the wine for further aging.

The DOCG Barbaresco was 2006, 13.5% alcohol.  This had a good nose of the grape, was very nice in the mouth and what we considered to be a short period to rest in the cellar.  We will try it again in December, 2012.  It was also of very reasonable price.  The wine was purchased for our cellar.

The DOCG Barolo was the last offering.  2006, 13.5% alcohol.  The mouth was dominated by acid, with the fruit barely evident in the nose and mouth.

4 October 2012  For the two year anniversary of Natalya's arrival in Italy, we opened a bottle of the 2006 Barbaresco.   It took a time to open up dictating that the bottle be opened a hour before drinking.  We will also leave the last of the bottles in the cantina for an additional year.  This is a very good Barbaresco.  We enjoyed it as it opened up in the glass.  This morning, we went to the cantina to see if we could get another six bottles but it has sold out.  The 2007 Barbaresco was tried but seems to have something about it that does not seem like it should have been placed on sale.  We recommend caution in purchasing this wine.