Barolo Riserva vertical tasting: Borgogno from 1962 to 2014

A vertical tasting of Barolo Riserva lines up vintages from a single producer and lets time draw the comparisons. With Borgogno, one of the oldest wineries in the appellation, the journey can begin in the 1960s and reach 2014: three historic Riserva wines, three Barolo wines from 1976 to 1987, and three Riserva wines from the Liste vineyard. Here's how to plan it, what order to serve the wines in, and what to look for in the glass.

Part of the STELT Tasting Week: a different tasting journey in your glass each day.

Borgogno, the winery that set time aside

The history of Borgogno began in 1761, when Bartolomeo Borgogno founded the winery in Barolo. The winery's history also includes the 1861 lunch celebrating the Unification of Italy, with one of its Barolo wines. For anyone planning a vertical tasting, however, the date that matters is 1920, when the winery decided to set aside half of its production and sell it only after twenty years. This policy of delayed release created the archive of old vintages that still sets the winery apart today.

The style has remained traditional: long macerations on the skins, ageing in large Slavonian oak casks, and no barriques for the Barolo. The Barolo vineyards include plots in Cannubi, Liste, Fossati and San Pietro delle Viole, vinified separately. The estate has belonged to the Farinetti family since 2008, and they have maintained this approach. In 2013, they returned to fermenting exclusively in concrete vats, drawing on the traditions of the Langhe.

The bottles: historic Riserva wines, Barolo and the Liste vineyard

The vertical tasting is built around three groups. The first is the historic Riserva wines: the Barolo Riserva 1962, the 1969 and the 1980. The second brings together three Barolo wines without the Riserva designation: 1976, 1979 and 1987. The third features the 2009 and 2012 Riserva Liste wines and the Barolo Riserva Liste 2014, all from a single vineyard.

Liste is the estate's most historic vineyard, in the municipality of Barolo: 6.75 hectares facing south and southeast, on calcareous-clayey marl rich in coarse fragments. For the Barolo now made from Liste, the winery specifies 40-60 days of submerged-cap maceration and four years in Slavonian oak casks. Regulations require Riserva to age for at least 62 months, counted from November 1 of the harvest year, including 18 months in wood: those four years in cask go well beyond the minimum.

How Nebbiolo changes over the years

Nebbiolo produces pale-colored wines with a firm structure, high in tannin and acidity. Regulations require Barolo to be garnet red when it reaches the market; over the years, its color shifts toward brick, first at the wine's rim and then throughout the glass. Color is the first thing to assess: it's best to look at all the glasses together against a white background.

In young wines, tannins grip; over time, some tannins and pigments settle and form sediment, and older vintages are often lighter-bodied and less tannic. Aromas also evolve: notes of dried rose, tar and cherry from youth give way to tertiary notes such as truffle, anise and dried herbs. This is the direction Nebbiolo tends to take, not a description of a particular bottle: each vintage and each cork make their own story.

In what order to serve a Barolo Riserva vertical tasting

There is no single rule for a Barolo vertical tasting. Many start with the youngest wine and move toward the complexity of older vintages; others do the opposite, because mature wines often have less tannin and body, and a palate already shaped by the young wines may struggle to pick out their nuances. With bottles from the 1960s, the second approach is the safer one: the more fragile vintages should be served first, while the palate is fresh and immediately after opening.

One possible sequence, in four steps:

• the Riserva 1962 and 1969;
• the Barolo 1976, the 1979, the Riserva 1980 and the Barolo 1987, also useful for comparing a Barolo and a Riserva from nearby vintages;
• the Riserva Liste 2009, 2012 and 2014, where the vineyard stays the same and the vintage changes;
• to close, the young counterpoint, Giacomo Conterno's Monfortino 2020.

There is no need to open everything on the same evening. A shorter version could include one bottle per decade, for example 1962, 1979, 1987, 2009 and 2014. For the character of each vintage, consult STELT's Vintage Guide, which also covers Barolo and Barbaresco from 1945 to 2024.

Older bottles, temperature and decanting

Older bottles should be stood upright at least a day in advance, so the sediment settles at the bottom. If the cork is very fragile, a two-pronged cork puller, which grips it from the sides, is often gentler than a corkscrew. A first sip helps you decide: if the wine is sound and already open, serve it from the bottle, pouring slowly in front of a light and stopping at the first sign of sediment; if it is closed, a slow decant just before serving is enough. An old vintage may be at its best in the first few minutes and then fade, so at a vertical tasting, each flight is opened when its turn comes. The steps are in the guide to serving fragile older vintages.

For serving Barolo, the recommended temperature is between 16 and 18 degrees: around 16-17 for mature vintages, and around 17-18 for a young wine like Monfortino 2020, which may need an hour or two in a decanter if it is still closed. The rest is a matter of organization: the same glass for everyone, small pours, and water and bread between each flight.

Counterpoints: Monfortino, Mascarello, Burlotto and a young voice

The Barolo Riserva Monfortino 2020 brings the evening to a close from the opposite end of time. Giacomo Conterno is based in Monforte d'Alba; in 1974, it acquired Cascina France, in Serralunga d'Alba, and has worked exclusively with estate-grown grapes ever since. Monfortino is released only in vintages deemed suitable, after long macerations and extended aging in large Slavonian oak casks. After the Riserva wines from Borgogno, it shows where a traditional-style Barolo Riserva begins.

The other reference points remain within the same tradition, though with different choices. Bartolo Mascarello, in the village of Barolo, makes a single Barolo blended from several vineyards, including Cannubi, San Lorenzo, Rué and Rocche dell'Annunziata in La Morra, and ages it in large casks, without barriques. His Barolo Etichetta d'Artista 2018 is the opposite of the Riserva Liste: a blend of vineyards rather than a single one. Burlotto works in Verduno, the northernmost municipality in the Barolo area, using open wooden vats and long macerations. Alongside the Riserva Liste 2009 and 2014, the Acclivi 2009, which blends the estate's Verduno crus, and Burlotto's Barolo 2014 turn two stages of the vertical tasting into comparisons within the same vintage.

For anyone who wants to taste today's Langa over dinner, there's a youthful voice: Philine Isabelle, born in Germany, based in Monforte d'Alba since 2019, in Bussia, with uncertified organic and biodynamic farming, spontaneous fermentations, and no fining or filtration. Her Barbera d'Alba 2023 is made from grapes with high acidity and soft tannins: a wine for dinner rather than a vertical tasting, to open after the last glass of Nebbiolo.

The Barolo bottles in this tasting are part of STELT's selection of Barolo and Barbaresco, while the older vintages are also part of its older vintages selection. At the wine shop in Lucca, in Borgo Giannotti, STELT organizes tastings and themed events, including private sessions for small groups of enthusiasts and collectors. A vertical tasting like this calls above all for time and attention: the vintages tell the rest.