The 1961 Barolo Riserva, a library release directly from the Borgogno cellars, offers up plenty of dried cherries, dried roses, licorice and tobacco, all framed by firm, dusty tannins. Despite its mid-weight body and age, the wine shows plenty of depth and fine overall balance. Borgogno offers an incredible range of older vintages. The estate decants these older bottles to remove sediment, tops them off with wine from the same vintage and re-corks the wines prior to selling them. In the past, I haven't been a huge fan of the library releases because a number of bottles have come across as over-manipulated and exceedingly fresh to the point of delivering little of the mature-Barolo experience readers expect from a 50-year old wine. Not here, though, the 1961 Riserva is simply beautiful from start to finish.

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