Marcarini Barolo 2015
I am a long term fan of Marcarini and this is regarded as their best vintage since 2010. I greatly enjoyed a 2008 Brunate recently. – Ian Cook, FWC
Vintage 2015 was the complete opposite of the cool and wet 2014. Summer was very warm, although the vines were able to draw on ample water storage thanks to heavy winter snow, and just when it looked like another 2003 was on the cards the weather cooled in late August and conditions until harvest were near perfect. In Alessandro Masnaghetti’s book Barolo MGA, Volume II, the data shows that 2015 was warmer than the ten year average of 2007-2016, yet September and October were cooler than the ten year average. 2015 presents as a warm vintage with rich and ripe fruit, but there is also considerable tannin and acidity to the wines, something that sets it apart from recent warm vintages like 2009 and 2011. The wines are incredibly open and approachable now, delicious in fact, and they will age well over the medium term. It might not be a vintage for twenty-thirty years in the cellar however that’s not a bad thing as there are plenty of vintages, past and future, for that. At Marcarini this year I had a slight preference for La Serra. In the warmer vintages like ‘15 the higher site really preserved the fruit/floral aromatics and overall freshness. – Matt Paul, Trembath & Taylor
Vintage 2015 was the complete opposite of the cool and wet 2014. Summer was very warm, although the vines were able to draw on ample water storage thanks to heavy winter snow, and just when it looked like another 2003 was on the cards the weather cooled in late August and conditions until harvest were near perfect. In Alessandro Masnaghetti’s book Barolo MGA, Volume II, the data shows that 2015 was warmer than the ten year average of 2007-2016, yet September and October were cooler than the ten year average. 2015 presents as a warm vintage with rich and ripe fruit, but there is also considerable tannin and acidity to the wines, something that sets it apart from recent warm vintages like 2009 and 2011. The wines are incredibly open and approachable now, delicious in fact, and they will age well over the medium term. It might not be a vintage for twenty-thirty years in the cellar however that’s not a bad thing as there are plenty of vintages, past and future, for that. At Marcarini this year I had a slight preference for La Serra. In the warmer vintages like ‘15 the higher site really preserved the fruit/floral aromatics and overall freshness. – Matt Paul, Trembath & Taylor