1997 Marcarini Barolo Brunate 1.5L [JG91][WS90]

Producer: Marcarini   Region: Barolo, Piedmont, Italy  Varietal: Nebbiolo   Year: 1997  John Gilman, 91 Points  "The 1997 Marcarini Brunate shows just a touch of its hot vintage character in its ever so slightly roasted character, but this is a deep, structured and serious example of the vintage that is just beginning to drink well and clearly has many years of life still ahead of it. The deep, ripe and classy nose offers up scents of gently baked cherries, hazelnuts, road tar, fresh herbs, smoke, camphor, a touch of blood orange and a lovely topnote of roses. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and very fresh for a ’97 Barolo, with still just a bit of firm tannin to drop on the backend, lovely focus and balance, bright acids and superb length and grip on the complex finish. There is a tad more mid-palate stuffing here than in other hot vintages, such as 1990, as perhaps the yields were not as high in ’97. One of my favorite examples of the 1997 vintage in Barolo. (Drink betwe