We were at the cantina on 4 November 2011. We were greeted by Francesca Sandri from the Ratti offices.
After a short wait, we were shown into the tasting room where there were three bottles on the table to taste. We were expecting to see the 2007 Marcenasco as well as two vintages of the Rocche bottling that Ms Sandri had told us we would be able to taste. Instead there was the Marcenasco and one vintage of the Rocche (2007) and their 2007 Barbera d'Alba. We did the tasting on our feet as we were not invited to sit. As is our custom, we will discuss only the 2007 Marcenesco and the 2007 Rocche.
We had had the Marcenasco at a restaurant in Novello some weeks before and found it not to our liking. I had told Ms Sandri this when I called for the appointment and it is then that she told me that we would have two vintages of the Rocche to try.
The wines were open six hours when we tasted them.
The 2007 Ratti Marcenasco is a blend from a number of Barolo vineyards in the Barolo area. Ms Sandri described this as their "Barolo di Base", their basic Barolo. While it is not unpleasant, it is not of the style that we prefer. The nose is classic Barolo. In the mouth is a nice tannin feeling but not so much so that it is overwhelming. There is a lesser amount of the flavor of the grape in this effort. We question whether it will be balanced when it is ready to drink, in our opinion in at least five years.
The 2007 Rocche comes from one of the better known vineyards in the area. Its location is near Castiglione Falletto, one of the eleven towns.that are in the Barolo growing area. This wine has a full Barolo nose with good separation in the mouth of tannin and the grape. We believe it will take at least five years to become a balanced wine. We did purchase this wine.
06 September 2016 If you have read the preceding information, you will know that we were received quite "coldly" when we visited the cantina in 2011. Back then we did not record a lot of information about the wines but in this case, we noted that the reception was not what we got when we visit cantinas now. Now a bit about the 2007 Rocche that we opened for the first time today. We wanted to open it because we intend on giving one of the bottles as a gift to my orthopedic surgeon that did a prosthesis on my left shoulder the end of October. I am doing ok, obviously it is difficult to "hunt and peck" but I am getting by. The wine was opened today to serve with a lunch of pumpkin soup, Russian salad made by the Russian member of this twosome and Lebanese dolma (a stuffed grape leaf). We did not expect much (wine "cold" like the reception we received?) but we were pleasantly surprised. The wine is ready to drink. However, we are going to suggest that you leave it open for a half hour before serving it. All the pieces are there especially the fruit and the nose. Recommended!!
01-01-2017 The first Barolo of 2017 (but surely not the last)! We drank the last bottle of the 2007 Rocche today with our NYD meal. We prepared a risotto with lobster (hey, it is NYD) and lentils with spinach. Yes, not what you would normally prepare but we had some of the lentils left over from last night (a dish that we eat to bring new luck in the coming year because the lentils signify small coins) and we thought "why not put them in the risotto?". It was very good. Will do the combination again. The wine did not disappoint. But, we still remember the cold reception from our first visit to Ratti. It is highly unlikely we will return there. They will have to change their client reception practices and communicate same to us before we will.
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