Our Wines & Spirits

Antonio Galloni: Conterno's 2002 Barolo Riserva Monfortino is alegend in the making, or now that it is in bottle, it may be morecorrect to simply say it is a legend. The late Giovanni Conternoand his son Roberto Conterno created quite a stir when theyannounced that they would make their Monfortino in 2002, a year inwhich most of the harvest in Piedmont was severely compromised by acold summer and devastating hail in early September. But there wasmore. The Conternos not only announced that they would make theirMonfortino in 2002 but no Barolo Cascina Francia for the first timeever in the estate's history. In a bit of defiance towards thepress, the Conternos then announced no one would be allowed totaste the wine from barrel. Over the years, this stance softened.Visitors lucky enough to visit the cellars and sample the wine fromcask knew what was in store. Simply put, the 2002 Monfortino isstratospheric. A dark, imposing, but sensual wine, it flows fromthe glass with a breathtaking array of dried roses, autumn leaves,wild cherries, plums, new leather, espresso, licorice and spices,showing phenomenal depth, richness and balance. The tension betweenthe luxuriousness of the fruit and the austerity of the vintage istruly captivating. I have tasted the 2002 Monfortino multiple timesfrom barrel and bottle. At times it has reminded me of what Iimagine the 1971 tasted like upon release, at other times it hasseemed more similar to 1978. According to Giovanni Conterno, the2002 reminded him of the 1971. Either way, the wine isextraordinary. The 2002 Monfortino is the result of the coldvintage that was typical of Piedmont up until the mid 1980s. Inmany ways, it is a throwback to wines that can't be made anymore inPiedmont. Roberto Conterno thought so highly of the 2002 Monfortinohe gave the wine an extra year in barrrel. And of course, there isone sad footnote. The world lost Giovanni Conterno to cancer in2004, but he made sure his last Monfortino was at least equal,