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The Vuelta is in full swing with a day of GC action, and that means another SPECTACULAR edition of /WORLD TOUR WINE/ !! Tonight's edition is an EMERGENCY BROADCAST after my first choice (Produttori del Barbaresco 2018) turned out to be CORKED.
Today's stage meandered through one of the GREAT wine regions of the world - Piemonte, Italia. There are a number of wonderful, beautiful appellations here, including one we've already visited (Barolo). Today's wine comes from the other great Nebbiolo appellation -- Barbaresco. It is grown adjacent to today's start in Alba, just east.
Paitin Barbaresco Serraboella 2021 ($50)
Nebbiolo is one of my favorite grapes, with a perfumed nose and light body anchored by face-melting tannins and profound depth of flavor. Barbaresco tends to be a bit less tannic than Barolo (although a lot of modern Barolo is reasonably accessible in its youth, and there's a few that I drink at like 2-3 years of bottle age that drink great).
Tasted at 4 hours of decanting. Pours a super-pretty pale ruby. Nose is dominated by floral notes, just a whiff of tar and fruit (cranberry), cedar spice, but not deeply perfumed. Palate has steel, but just feels super tight. Tannins drying on the finish and the acidity feels a bit restrained.
Bottle just feels super tight despite a long decant, not much opening of the fruit. Maybe even lightly corked? I didn't want to believe it after a bad bottle earlier today, but my impression seems very discordant from other tasting notes. I do have a very sensitive nose for TCA so the more I sit with this, the more I believe that this is just a bit corked.
So I can think of maybe 5 wines in the last year I have drank that have been corked and 2 were Italian and 2 were Spanish. I drink probably 80% French, 10% German, 5% American, and 5% otherwise, so I just need to ask what the fuck the Meds are doing with their corks and cleaning.