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Hitting the Sweet Spot

The Perfectly Mature Barolos of Rocche dei Manzoni  
 
The Perfectly Mature Barolos of Rocche dei Manzoni

A Note from Sergio            

 

"Sweet spot" is a phrase that's used a lot in sports and in acoustics. If you've ever played tennis, baseball, softball, or even soccer, you're familiar with the concept--if not the phrase--of the sweet spot. It's that magical area on the ball, the bat, or the racquet that allows you to put that ball exactly where and how you want it. Similarly, in acoustics the sweet spot is that specific, limited space between speakers, or in a concert hall between the stage and the seating, that gives the listener the optimal experience. In this area, the sound waves converge and hit the ears of the listener perfectly--there's no distortion, no bend, no dropping out of sound. It's seamless and perfect.

 

The sweet spot is something you know when you see it or feel it. I remember sitting midfield at Giants Stadium for the semifinals of the '94 World Cup, Italy vs. Bulgaria. I saw Roberto Baggio strike the ball so perfectly that it rolled like thunder past a bewildered and overmatched goalie. Italy won the game 2-1, and the crowd cheered wildly. I think about sitting in the orchestra of the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genova, my daughter on my lap, watching Swan Lake performed by The National Opera of Ukraine and feeling Tchaikovsky's music in my chest, its thrill echoed in my little girl. The joy in a sweet spot is something that can bind us together.

 

Just as in rackets, balls, bats and concert halls, there's a sweet spot in wine. It's the best time to drink the wine, that moment when the wine has matured and all the flavors, phenols, alcohol and magic has coalesced, turning that wine into something greater than itself. Sometimes this sweet spot comes relatively early in a wine's lifecycle; other times, it comes relatively late; still other times, the sweet spot seems to linger for decades. It's not unlike how the density of the string affects a tennis racquet's sweet spot, or the way that the dimensions of a concert venue will affect its sweet spot. There are many factors that come into play. A wine's grapes, its vintage, its producer, and its production process all affect its maturity.

 

Today I'm excited to offer you 25 wines, each and every one of them full-on in their sweet spots. Often, people buy a wine and drink it before it hits that perfect mellowness--wine lovers can have a hard time waiting, and the wine industry can be even more impatient than connoisseurs. It's rare that you can buy a wine like a Barolo, a wine that typically needs at least ten years on it, when it's ready to drink. The Rocche dei Manzoni wines I'm offering today all have at least eleven years--and the wines from Manzoni drink best between ten and 17 years. Dating from 1995 to 2000, each one of the Rocche dei Manzoni wines, the Barolos and the Quatr Nas, is at its apex. Even more exciting, every one of them has unbelievable provenance; I know and can fully guarantee this.

 

Open a bottle of one of these Manzoni wines and enjoy a wine at that time when there's no distortion of youth or of age; when there's no dropping of notes that show maturity, notes like leather, smoke or tar; when the wine sings with ineffable perfection and that song lasts forever on your palate. We can't all bend it like Beckham, but we can, from time to time, enjoy the sweet spot. Here's to that mellowness that perfect age can give.



My Best,


signature


P.S. You can now follow me on Twitter: @Italian_Wine_SE.



Featured Wines

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Valentino Rocche dei Manzoni Pinonero 1995
Valentino Rocche dei Manzoni Pinonero 1995, 750ml
Price: $59.95

If you’ve ever had the yen to taste what a Piemonte Barolo master might do with Pinot Noir, Rocche dei Manzoni’s Pinonero delivers. An intriguing style of Pinot, this wine displays notes of red berries, rose bush, and oak, wrapped in soft, silky tannins. Just 500 cases are produced of this Piemonte take on Pinot Noir, and very little makes it to the US.  Drinking now.
Pianpolvere Soprano Barolo Riserva 1999
Pianpolvere Soprano Barolo Riserva 1999 750ml
Price: $109.99

Valentino purchased the historic estate in 1999, with a view to crafting wines of longevity. Resting at an average elevation of 400 meters, the Pianpolvere site is an exceptional one for Nebbiolo, given both the microclimate concerned and the soil’s capacity for water retention. Crafted from biodynamically grown grapes, the ’99 Pianpolvere Soprano represents the first solo effort from this vineyard (previously it was a joint effort between the Fenocchio and Migliorini families).  This classic Barolo Riserva possesses a rich brocade of a body—highly textured, complex and velvety.
Rocche dei Manzoni Quatr Nas 1998
Rocche dei Manzoni Quatr Nas 1998, 750ml
Price: $49.95

To drink the ’98 Quatr Nas is like running silk brocade over your tongue in a room perfumed with dried flowers. The wine has a delicately floral nose touched with roses and violets that complements its palate of dried plums, hawthorn berries, brambly blackberries and a profusion of herbs. Thrumming underbrush and rich mocha provide a counterpoint, and balanced tannins linger endlessly. A sumptuous experience, this wine is drinking now.
Rocche dei Manzoni Barolo Vigna Big 'd Big 1996
Rocche dei Manzoni Barolo Vigna Big 'd Big 1996, 750ml
Price: $69.99

While the vineyard’s name may come from a former owner of Rocche dei Manzoni, it won’t mislead you about the wine. Ripe, opulent, and powerful, Manzoni’s Big ‘d Big spends three years in French oak followed by an additional year in bottle prior to release. Offering concentration, a very full and satisfying body, and a palate brimming with sweet tannins, the Barolo Big 'd Big typically reaches its peak drinking stage between seven and fifteen years of age, yet its structure provides for significant long-term aging. In the offering below, four of the famed 1996-2001 vintage streak wines are joined by the ’95, no slouch in its own right. If you enjoy Barolos that are chock full of ripe dark cherry, bursting black fig, touched by warm spices and kissed by oak, look no further than Big 'd Big.
Rocche dei Manzoni Barolo Vigna Big 'd Big 1999
Rocche dei Manzoni Barolo Vigna Big 'd Big 1999, 750ml
Price: $69.99

While the vineyard’s name may come from a former owner of Rocche dei Manzoni, it won’t mislead you about the wine. Ripe, opulent, and powerful, Manzoni’s Big ‘d Big spends three years in French oak followed by an additional year in bottle prior to release. Offering concentration, a very full and satisfying body, and a palate brimming with sweet tannins, the Barolo Big 'd Big typically reaches its peak drinking stage between seven and fifteen years of age, yet its structure provides for significant long-term aging. In the offering below, four of the famed 1996-2001 vintage streak wines are joined by the ’95, no slouch in its own right. If you enjoy Barolos that are chock full of ripe dark cherry, bursting black fig, touched by warm spices and kissed by oak, look no further than Big 'd Big.
Rocche dei Manzoni Barolo Vigna d'la Roul 1995
Rocche dei Manzoni Barolo Vigna d'la Roul 1995, 750ml
Price: $74.99

Valentino's first single-vineyard Barolo and the most elegant of his Barolos, Vigna d’la Roul, debuted with the 1974 vintage. If the Big 'd Big is a Barolo of power and warmth, the Vigna d’la Roul shows restraint, finesse, complexity and seriously admirable structure. Of the vintage years below, Sergio likes the ’96 best for its age-worthiness and its classic lines. The 2000, in contrast, exhibits lush fruit in its palate that flows like silk. The most masculine of Manzoni’s Barolos, Vigna d’la Roul may hold oodles of fruit, but it’s the brooding notes of leather, earth, smoke and spice that make this wine shine, if through a glass darkly.
Rocche dei Manzoni Barolo Vigna d'la Roul 1997
Rocche dei Manzoni Barolo Vigna d'la Roul 1997, 750ml
Price: $74.99

Valentino's first single-vineyard Barolo and the most elegant of his Barolos, Vigna d’la Roul, debuted with the 1974 vintage. If the Big 'd Big is a Barolo of power and warmth, the Vigna d’la Roul shows restraint, finesse, complexity and seriously admirable structure. Of the vintage years below, Sergio likes the ’96 best for its age-worthiness and its classic lines. The 2000, in contrast, exhibits lush fruit in its palate that flows like silk. The most masculine of Manzoni’s Barolos, Vigna d’la Roul may hold oodles of fruit, but it’s the brooding notes of leather, earth, smoke and spice that make this wine shine, if through a glass darkly.
Rocche dei Manzoni Barolo Vigna d'la Roul 1998
Rocche dei Manzoni Barolo Vigna d'la Roul 1998, 750ml
Price: $74.99

Valentino's first single-vineyard Barolo and the most elegant of his Barolos, Vigna d’la Roul, debuted with the 1974 vintage. If the Big d’ Big is a Barolo of power and warmth, the Vigna d’la Roul shows restraint, finesse, complexity and seriously admirable structure. Of the vintage years below, Sergio likes the ’96 best for its age-worthiness and its classic lines. The 2000, in contrast, exhibits lush fruit in its palate that flows like silk. The most masculine of Manzoni’s Barolos, Vigna d’la Roul may hold oodles of fruit, but it’s the brooding notes of leather, earth, smoke and spice that make this wine shine, if through a glass darkly.
Rocche dei Manzoni Barolo Vigna d'la Roul 1999
Rocche dei Manzoni Barolo Vigna d'la Roul 1999, 750ml
Price: $74.99

Valentino's first single-vineyard Barolo and the most elegant of his Barolos, Vigna d’la Roul, debuted with the 1974 vintage. If the Big 'd Big is a Barolo of power and warmth, the Vigna d’la Roul shows restraint, finesse, complexity and seriously admirable structure. Of the vintage years below, Sergio likes the ’96 best for its age-worthiness and its classic lines. The 2000, in contrast, exhibits lush fruit in its palate that flows like silk. The most masculine of Manzoni’s Barolos, Vigna d’la Roul may hold oodles of fruit, but it’s the brooding notes of leather, earth, smoke and spice that make this wine shine, if through a glass darkly.
Rocche dei Manzoni Barolo Vigna d'la Roul 2000
Rocche dei Manzoni Barolo Vigna d'la Roul 2000, 750ml
Price: $74.99

Valentino's first single-vineyard Barolo and the most elegant of his Barolos, Vigna d’la Roul, debuted with the 1974 vintage. If the Big 'd Big is a Barolo of power and warmth, the Vigna d’la Roul shows restraint, finesse, complexity and seriously admirable structure. Of the vintage years below, Sergio likes the ’96 best for its age-worthiness and its classic lines. The 2000, in contrast, exhibits lush fruit in its palate that flows like silk. The most masculine of Manzoni’s Barolos, Vigna d’la Roul may hold oodles of fruit, but it’s the brooding notes of leather, earth, smoke and spice that make this wine shine, if through a glass darkly.
   
 
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