1979 Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco

Community Tasting Notes (12) Median Score: 85 points

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  10/24/2020 - forceberry wrote: 83 Points

  A traditionalist Barbaresco, fermented in stainless steel tanks and macerated with the skins for 25-30 days. 13,5% alcohol. Decanted for 1,5 hours. Tasted in Produttori del Barbaresco 2016-1970 vertical.
  
  Very translucent yet still surprisingly dark maroon color with a pale yellow-orange rim. Pungent and quite heavily oxidative nose with tertiary aromas of salt-cured beef and soy sauce, some dry smoky tones, light sweet notes of dried black cherries, a little bit of salty liquorice, a hint of musty earth and a touch of old furniture. Contrasting the almost unpleasantly pungent, musty and oxidative nose, the wine is moderately full-bodied, silky and very aged on the palate with still somewhat pleasant tertiary flavors of dried black cherries, some charred game, light meaty umami tones, a little bit of sour cherry bitterness, a sweeter hint of liqueur-ish VA and a rich, aged touch of hoi sin. The wine still retains quite a bit of structure with its moderately high acidity and still somewhat grippy medium-plus tannins. The finish is complex, very evolved and somewhat grippy with tertiary flavors of dried wizened cherries, some dried dates, a little bit of sour cherry bitterness, light soy sauce tones and a hint of gamey meat.
  
  The nose was pretty shot and quite off-putting with its somewhat musty and rather pungent tertiary aromas, but on the palate the wine was noticeably more mellow and enjoyable, albeit obviously gliding downhill. Although the nose made it hard to get to the first sip, it turned out that this wine was not only for academic curiosity, but also for a wee bit of pleasure. Not by much, but comparing this vintage with the other old, oxidized vintages, this performed the best. Although too old for a good, developed Barbaresco, this was still miles better than the odd, unpleasantly musty and rather disagreeable bottle I tasted a year ago. Nevertheless, it seems obvious that this lesser vintage is already past its peak and I doubt there are going to be any drinkable bottles remaining - 1979 Barbaresco just wasn't meant to survive for 40 years. Not really worth the 47,55€ anymore.

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  12/30/2019 - forceberry wrote: flawed

  This was just weird. You could see that in the bottles there was quite a bit of some oily residue on the surface on the wine. The wine was carefully decanted into a decanter, but even though the wine was tasted half-blind, I could immediately recognize this wine from its oily film on the surface.
  
  Pale, tertiary and very translucent brick-orange color with an oily film on the surface. Odd, musty and dusty nose with aromas of sand dust, shredded paper and old earthen cellar. I don't know if this is just corked or otherwise faulty (mannitol fault, perhaps?), but the combination of musty nose and oily film on the surface really don't make me feel like taking a sip.

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  10/27/2018 - MC2 Wines wrote:

  Funny wine. It was opened and decanted and rebottled. The nose suggested corked when reopened, but the palate was ok. A bit musty at first. Left open and the wine continued to open up and just kept getting better and better. So sometimes I guess the answer is don't give up too early. It's certainly towards the end of its life. The fruit is fully faded and you're more in the old library place (leather oil, book covers, etc.). Nice that it came around. Many thanks to David for sharing.

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  12/29/2017 - threeguiness wrote: 85 Points

  still enjoyable. in its end of life but perfectly drinkable .

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  10/30/2017 - rlove wrote:

  Mostly over the hill, with dried cherry, beef broth, and mushroom on the nose. Fully resolved on the palate.

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