Magnum Barbaresco ’Asili’ - Nebbiolo (15) B.Giacosa

Nebbiolo | cru 'Asili' | 2,5ha | 30 jaar oude stokken | bodem kalkrijke klei met zand | 15 dagen vergist in staaltank | 18 maanden gerijpt in botti | 6 maanden rijping in fles | grote wijn | even in karaf | all I want for Christmas 

Bruno Giacosa

Bruno Giacosa’s vinification technique has been termed “updated traditional”:
Nebbiolo grapes, for example, are picked earlier, at optimum ripeness determined by
a combination of scientific analysis and hands-on experience. The grapes are
macerated for closer to 30 days than the time-honoured 50. This timing still taps into
the power and depth of Nebbiolo but produces wines with more finesse. In
maturation, Giacosa has not been tempted towards the fashionable use of small,
225l French barriques, instead staying with huge 5,000l Slovenian and French oak
botte, many of them 25 years old

Known as the Genius of Neive, Bruno Giacosa’s mastery of the Nebbiolo grape is
recognised in Piedmont and the wider world of wine alike - although the organisation
produces more than just Barolo and Barbaresco. Bruno Giacosa sadly passed away in
January 2018. But having suffered a stroke in 2006, it is his daughter Bruna, who has
been driving this great wine estate forward in recent years, supported by her sister
Marina. And, having worked at Neive for 16 years until 2008, oenologist Dante
Scaglione returned in 2011 as a consultant.

The family name was first established in the Langhe in 1871 by Bruno Giacosa’s
grandfather Carlo Giacosa - as a commerciante di vini, building a network of
excellent local growers and vinifying their grapes at the winery in Neive, near Alba.
After World War II, the 15-year-old Bruno joined his father Mario in the family
business. The prestigious Bruno Giacosa Barbaresco Asili and Rabajà are neighbours but have
different soils and clearly definable characteristics: the former has unmatched
elegance and delicacy, while the latter is full-bodied and rich.

Review

In 2013, the father and daughter winemaking team of Bruno and Bruna Giacosa decided not to produce their Barbaresco Asili. They made a Rabajà expression instead. Asili was vinified separately again in 2014 and more recently to create the impressive 2015 Barbaresco Asili. This wine was bottled one year ago in July and has been on the market since February. This expression offers accessible and generous fruit tones, with blackcurrant and dark plum. The wine delivers big inner power with evident tannic firmness and a point of astringency on the finish. All it needs is more time in the bottle. 94/100 Monica Larner

A legendary figure in a land of legendary wines, Bruno Giacosa, passed away in Alba on January 22, 2018, with his daughters Marina and Bruna at his side. He was 88. Following a stroke in 2006, Giacosa had slowly retreated from the spotlight. His daughter Bruna has managed the eponymous winery and vineyard these past years. “I have lost the most important person in my life,” says Bruna Giacosa. “I had a special relationship with my father. We communicated with just our eyes. He was my idol.” Bruno Giacosa will be remembered for his keen ability to recognize the best growing sites for Nebbiolo, Barbera and the other great grapes of Piedmont. He had an encyclopedic knowledge of the cru sites of his beloved Langhe. Much of his acquired knowledge and experience would later become the inspirational basis for the Menzioni Geografiche Aggiuntive mapping work in place today for both the Barolo and Barbaresco appellations. Bruno Giacosa was among the first visionaries to understand the importance of the Langhe cru, and the unique expressions that are obtained with a single-vineyard winemaking philosophy. With a winery in Neive (Barbaresco), Bruno Giacosa is remembered as a gifted négociant who purchased fruit for most of his career. Many of those most celebrated contacts lasted decades and were famously sealed with just a handshake. The first vintage of his Barbaresco Santo Stefano was 1964. In 1982, he purchased 25 hectares in the Falletto vineyard in Serralunga d’Alba. The celebrated Barolo Riserva Le Rocche del Falletto (red label) was recently produced in 2008, 2011, 2012 (reviewed below) and 2014 (to be released in 2020). "When I met Bruno Giacosa the first time it was the beginning of the 1990s, and he had just turned in a succession of profound wines that, for the most part, proved to be legendary," remembers Robert Parker. "His Barolos and Barbarescos from 1978, 1982, 1985, 1988, 1989 and 1990 were—and remain—some of the finest expressions of Nebbiolo ever produced. I wrote a very long time ago that if there was one wine producer I would buy year in and year out without ever first tasting, it was Bruno Giacosa." Starting with the 2013 vintage, the Barbaresco Rabajà now uses fruit from vineyards directly owned by the estate. The Barbaresco Riserva Asili (red label) was produced in 2011 and 2014 (reviewed below) but not in 2012. Giacosa’s Riservas are recognized by their red labels—they are precious bottles coveted by collectors all over the world. Bruno and Bruna Giacosa began working with enologist Dante Scaglione in 1991. Mr. Scaglione left the winery in 2007 but returned to work for the Giacosa family again in 2011. "His contributions to Italian wine and his beloved Piedmont are beyond measure," adds Robert Parker. "I am honored to have met him, shared his wines, and remain in naked awe of what he achieved. It wouldn't surprise me if God were learning the glories of Nebbiolo from the MASTER. Rest in peace."