Barolo 2014 & Barbaresco 2015

Stephen Brook reports from Piedmont’s Nebbiolo Prima tastings, picking the best of the new releases as well as riservas from Barolo 2012 and Barbaresco 2014, with four top Roero reds too.

- Stephen Brook

THE GREAT NEBBIOLO WINES of Piedmont have an avid following, so the release of new vintages always generates some excitement – and occasionally disappointment. The starting gun is triggered each May at an event now known as Nebbiolo Prima – not an official launch, but the first opportunity to taste the new releases. its sole drawback is the sheer number of wines to be tasted (all blind), 70-90 each day, a total of more than 300 bottles. With few exceptions, the wines will have been bottled only a couple of months previously.

Since there’s no official launch, importers, merchants and the estates are free to sell the wines whenever they choose – thus, of the 50 or so listed here (a selection of the 180 featured on Decanter Premium), most will have been tasted at Nebbiolo Prima, but others sampled at the producer’s estate or importers’ tastings earlier this year.

Barolo 2014

Although spring was early, there was little frost. Temperatures were normal in early summer, but there were some spells of localised rain. in late July, when rainfall was particularly fierce, some vineyards were drenched, while a few kilometres away the vines got a mere sprinkling. The combination of warmth and humidity put great demands on growers, who needed to be constantly on the lookout for disease, especially mildew. Conditions improved in late September and into October, with warm days but cool nights. Hail was minimal, and mostly confined to Serralunga. (Interestingly, despite these difficulties Serralunga seems to have delivered many of the best wines this year.) Yields were generally low; Elio Altare lost 60% of the crop.