1999 Barolo La Serra
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Tasting notes
Imagine autumn and its colours. A delicate mist, like a thin veil that lays down on the soft shapes of the hills. The smell of the fireplaces from the houses, which embalm the air and make you feel at home immediately. Imagine the truffles, the cheeses, the hazelnut (where Nutella comes from!), the Nebbiolo…Imagine Langhe, in Piedmont. Paolo Conte, “Piemontese” in origin, is one of my favourite singers, and he once said: "Barolo is a wine that sings, that shapes people's personalities." In these parts it is said that from one side of the hills of Barolo, you can smell the sea, which makes you travel, on the other, you can smell the hay, which keeps you anchored to these lands. oerzio La Serra 1999: a fantastic wine from a fantastic vintage, inclined to aging, where the tannins are very sweet and reduced from ageing in wood, so that the balance is obtained earlier. With fruity and floral, spicy tones, a clean, pulpy fruit with some rose, mint, sweet tobacco. Here the character of the Nebbiolo comes out, and aromas of cherry and violet, liquorice, jam opens up. Structure is very decisive and rich.
Critic scores
Average Score
The Wine Advocate
Antonio Galloni, Vinous
More reviews and scores
A magnificent wine when it was young, Roberto Voerzio's 1999 Barolo La Serra has developed beautifully in bottle. Fresh, floral aromatics abound in a layered, impeccably delineated wine. Sweet rose petals, red berries, spices and mint are wrapped around a core of super-expressive fruit. The usually firm La Serra tannins are nearly covered by the intensity of the fruit. I have always adored the 1999 La Serra, a wine that remains fabulous, with plenty of life ahead.
The 1999 Barolo La Serra has always been a magnificent wine as it is again tonight. I have often felt this Barolo and Voerzio's other 1999s, signal the first move towards a more elegant and finessed style. Sweet, floral aromatics meld into vibrant layers of mineral-infused dark cherries as the wine opens up in the glass. This young, sweeping Barolo is simply magnificent and one of the very finest La Serras Voerzio has made over the course of his career. Though delicious today, the wine promises to drink beautifully for another 15-20 years. It is superb.
The 1999 Barolo La Serra is very floral, spicy, and minty, with much mocha on the nose, rich, dense flavors which feature ripe fruit and sweet tar and licorice, and important extract. It is already approachable, but waiting is advisable – drink from 2006 and 2018. A Leonardo Locascio Selection, Winebow, Hohokus, NJ; tel. (201) 445-0620