Ricossa Barolo 2004

I picked this up in another Tesco 50% off deal (£10 down from £20) a few months back. The exceptional vintage and the price made this an attractive buy.

This is my 3rd and final bottle of this wine. The other 2 were drunk in circumstances not conducive to blogging really - they were either not the only bottle of the night or we had a large group of guests over. In these situations I tend to forget about taking notes and just enjoy the atmosphere instead of worrying about what I am going to write.

The back label recommends decanting for at least 3 hours. When I first poured the wine into my decanter, it had quite a strong sulphur smell, which gave way after a few minutes to tar and sour cherries. The wine I suppose is elegant - Nebbiolo from Piedmont reminds me sometimes of red Burgundy - light in colour, medium in body with penetrating cherry aromatics. I think this particular one falls a bit short though. It took a couple of hours to open up, which is fine, but the palate is short on character and length.

If I had paid the full price of £20 I would be very disappointed. For a tenner though it's not bad, a step up from everyday wine, but not much more than that. A 3 on quality, but not good value.

MGM Mondo del Vino

Ricossa Barolo DOCG 2004

Piedmont, Italy

Tesco

£10 (£20)

3/5