Despite three years have passed since the death of Bruno Giacosa, it is still very complicated to talk about the wines of his winery, run since 2006 (with roles of increasing importance) by his daughter Bruna, without referring to the figure of this real giant of Langhe enology. Born in 1929, Bruno started very early, at the age of 16, to work in the family business, to help his father Mario who had inherited it from his grandfather Carlo. Bruno was predestined, and this was already evident from his extraordinary sensitivity in reading between the lines the quality of a vineyard or a vintage, thanks to a simple tasting of the grapes at the harvest time. Coincidentally, he wanted these qualities to be intensively trained in his youth when, on behalf of his father, he had the responsibility of choosing and bargaining, with the family winery vine holders, the price of the best and most suitable grapes for winemaking.
This intense “training” was useful to the young Giacosa who, at the age of 31, took control of the family business and began to produce wines with his name on the label. Since the first wines Bruno gave proof of his extraordinary négociant ability until, starting from 1980, he was able to buy, at a high price, vineyards with incredible expressive potential in Barolo and (in 1996) in Barbaresco. Following these acquisitions, the winery began to bottle wines with two separate lines of labels: Azienda Agricola Falletto, which included the most prestigious wines, obtained from own vineyards, and Casa Vinicola Giacosa to indicate the wines produced from grapes purchased from historical and precious vine holders, always vinified in the own cellar.
Among the most famous Azienda Agricola Falletto’s wines is, without a doubt, Barolo Rocche del Falletto, coming from the homonymous vineyard in Serralunga d’Alba, at an altitude of 350 meters. Nebbiolo grapes are harvested by hand and undergo a first sorting already in the vineyard and, therefore, are sent to the cellar where they face a second sorting, before being destemmed and pressed. After the spontaneous fermentation, by means of indigenous yeasts, and the maceration of about one month, the wine ages in large barrels for three years, before bottling, a subsequent short spot period it glass and marketing.
The 2009 vintage shows a sparkling ruby red color, with garnet nuances, and an olfactory range that opens on notes of red currant, durone cherry, dried violet and vinyl, followed by red orange, pomegranate, pot pourri and cloves, with concluding echoes of licorice root, undergrowth and Kentucky tobacco. The palate strikes for its crisp red fruit freshness accompanied, in a masterful wrapping progression, by a rare finesse tannin, with the sip all played between power and elegance; all while the fruit return, flowers and spices, with the latter persisting even after an interminable finish.
Rating: 95/100
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