Yumminess Factor = OH YES! Lamb Chops = 2 very succulent ones.
Knocked back this 2006 Neb with a home made hamburger with the lot (more Heston than Macca’s). It’s a stunner, the wine that is. Vietti is one of the great wine producers of the world. Their Barolo’s are incredible.
I had the great fortune of experiencing the hospitality of the Currado family and visiting the Vietti winery in 2005. It’s an incredible structure incorporating an old Fort on the top of Castiglione Falletto. They’ve filled in the escape tunnel that lead to the distant fields and was used in the event of a siege. Although the winery has been modernised all that has been ancient has been respected and the slit windows for archers still remain.
Check out the old v new in the pic’s below. Big old school oak, the traditional vessel for maturing Barolo, with new small wood in the old and new building. The incredible hills of Barolo are a spectacular site.
Vietti’s been a favourite of mine for a long time. Back in 2003 at the Australian Wine Institute’s Advanced Wine Assesment Course (AWAC), both the Perbacco, Vietti’s basic Nebbiolo and their Rocche, an awesome single vineyard Barolo were included in a line up of a dozen Neb’s. Both were great wines. In the blind tasting I scored the Perbacco 17.5 and the Rocche 18.5 of 20 along with Tim White and Peter Godden, other than a couple of Bronze medals, we were the only ones in a room of 30 winemakers and wine pro’s to rate the Rocche giving it a gold medal. Boy did it deserve it and perhaps more, the wine had an incredible core of fruit, amazing layered, spicey, earthy, yummy complexity and a hardcore texture of amazing tannin with incredible length. A 3 Lambchop wine to be sure. I think we were at about wine 100 for the day but there was no way I was spitting the Rocche or the Perbacco for that matter.
These are wines of real character. They’re wines that it took me a while to find and understand, they’re so different from most Aussie wines. The flavours and textures are unique, less primary fruit, more secondary characters … often described as Burgundy’s big brother on Steroids. If you get a chance grab a Perbacco and drink it over 3 or 4 days with something delicious. For new comers to the variety, the wines can be hard to get your head around, the AWAC scores illustrates how hard. When it clicks and you get it, boy you’ll been onto something great. If you don’t get it the first time go back for a second and drink it with someone who can help explain it … hell give me a bell, if Vietti is on the table I’ll be there. Remember these are food wines … maybe a decent burger? For about $50 the Perbacco is great value. The Rocche at around $200+ if you can find and then give some one your first born for a bottle or two is well worth it.
I’ve got just one bottle of Vietti’s top wine the Riserva Villero from 1996 … when to open it is the tough question! I’m not being a wanker, but the day I knock this one back it’s going to have to be with someone very special and some awesome tucker maybe a 1kg T-Bone!
