1980 Bruno Giacosa Barolo 'Collina Rionda di Serralunga'

For many, the red label riserva Barolos and Barbarescos made by Giacosa are the equal of any red wine made in the world. He made them only a few times a decade, and they are not only fantastically complex, rich, powerful wines capable of decades of development; they are also endowed with that rare and magical sense of extra dimension found only in the greatest wines. So high were Bruno Giacosa’s standards that, over the decades, he deemed relatively few wines worthy of wearing the red label. As a consequence, his more typical white label releases often offer such soaring quality that we find ourselves asking why they weren’t given red labels. In such cases, the difference in quality may have been known only to Giacosa himself. Giacosa is nearly as famous for his modesty as for the surreal character of his wines. As his legend grew, many writers made the pilgrimage to the Giacosa cantina in Neive eager to learn the details behind his wines. But they usually only received the simple resp