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Porro, Guido

It was a great treat to Visit with Guido Porro and his wife. This hidden gem in Serralunga is imported into the USA by Kermit Lynch.

These are classically made wines, finely brought up but one with a deep love for the land and the unique expression his vines offer.  His beautiful vineyards, currently a bit messy due to the ongoing cellar expansion taking place, drape down the west/southwesting facing slope just to the north of the village of Serralunga. These 6 hectares, ocated within the Crus Lazzarito, Lazzirasco, and his home estate Santa Catarina these vines supply all the grapes for the modest annual production.

These are truly wines that are made in the vineyards, fermented with their naturally occurring yeasts and allowed to achieve their own equilibrium at their own pace in  large neutral wood, 100% Slavonian oak.. Being the sixth generation to farm these lands and having bottled wine under their own label exclusively since 1978 there is a deep understanding of and respect for the ways of tradition.

One of the most attractive traditions with these wines is the remarkable pricing. This unheralded producer is supplying the finest value in traditional Barolo in the marketplace today. These are absolutely wines to seek out.

Dolcetto d’Alba 2007 – 88pts
Fermented in cement for 10 days – 20,000 bottles produced
Very pretty on the nose with fresh fruit balanced by spicy soil tones, earthy and darkly floral 2
Very nice mouthfeel with excellent inner mouth energy, fleshy but bright with very fine, subtle tannins 3
Slightly chewy, black flavors with excellent purity to the black berry fruit, a bit simple though 2
Very fine inner mouth aromatic complexity on the finish but the palate doesn’t catch up. Excellent everyday Dolcetto 2

Barbera d’Alba 2007 – 89pts
Fermented in stainless – 8,000 bottles
Smells almost flannelly, warm, soft, and deep, spicy notes, violets, dark berries, black fruits and wild flowers, great Barbera nose 3
Big and dense in the mouth without much weight and with nicely integrated acids 2
A bit tight on the palate with a taut core of fleshy, dark fruit hinting at cocoa and leather 2
Finishes a bit short with tons of black spice but there is an intriguing return with a sweet echo of fresh fruit 2+

Dolcetto d’Alba Vigna I Pari 2006 – 90pts
This spent 2 months in wood – 5,000 bottles
Sweetly fruited on the nose with excellent complexity for Dolcetto, saddle leather, musky and spicy with an almost clove oil note and typical  baking cocoa dough notes 3
Elegant on entry with very fine tannins and good acids in balance offering more structure than the base bottling but still refined and with excellent balance 2+
Big dark plumy fruits up front yield to a slightly dried fruit aspect with a touch of date accentuated by the darkly earthy core of fruit that conceals some slightly orangy acidity 2+
The great acids support good length on the finish which continues the earthy, darkly fruited impression of the palate and adds a touch of cocoa on the clean, brisk finale 2+

Barbera d’Alba Vigna Santa. Caterina 2006 – 91pts
6 months in a new botte
Slightly jammy fruits, frutti di bosco on the nose with a bit of fudge and salame, a touch reticent 2
Biggish in the mouth but inflated with acids which push the  wine into the deep corners of the mouth, just a touch of tannin adding structural support 2+
Very expressive in the mouth with very bright red fruits, black raspberry, a fig jammy top note and subtle hard candy edges frame the fruit very well, a touch of menthol and a very subtle coffee/medicinal edge round out the palate, super  stuff 3+
Very fruit driven on the finish with a slightly roasted meat edge, impressively long with a touch of savory wood in the finale 3

Paesan 2006 – 89pts
80/20 Nebbiolo/Barbera blend, produced for 11 years
Old wood on the nose, red woody, dried alpine flowers, a bit of rust, a touch of seaweed, peony/pollen notes, some underlying sweet licorice tones with a menthol edge, incipient nettle 3
Medium bodies with big acids and fine but stern Nebbiolo tannins, a structured little wine 2+
A bit ungiving in the mouth with a slightly medicinal, darkly mineral character, slight bittersweet interplay between the transparent fruit and bitter/herbal/root tones, a touch rustic 2+
Finishes curtly with fairly aggressive structure clamping down then a bright finale of slightly jammy cherry fruit., a hearty, rustic wine 2

Barolo Vigna Santa Catarina 2004 – 95pts
Fewer than 4000 bottles produce
Very intense nose, like stepping in a meadow with crushed alpine flowers, a touch of crushed chive, grass, cow patty, nettle then liquory fruit that is spicy and complex with a bit of a dried/concentrated note to the wild berry fruit 3+
Big in the mouth with a polished smooth feel, packed with perfectly ripe tannins and excellent acids, faceted and jewel like 3
Dense and slightly chewy with dark fruits/blackberry/wild cherry tones, slightly astringent mineral/earth notes, a slight suggestion of almond bitterness 3+
Tannins are sweet on the finish but really close in quickly constricting the very pure core of red fruits until an abrupt end but even then the tannins seem to squeeze out a little dollop of a finale with bitter cherry fruit edged in slight vegetal/herbal tones, excellent freshness here 3

Barolo Lazzairasco 2004 – 94pts
10,000 bottles produced
Big nose pops out with a huge menthol top note, lots of leather scorched earth, baked clay, herbs, dark mineral tones, very medicinally herbal, dark berried fruits, big and assertive 3
Broad in the mouth but so suave, like eating grapes with the fine balance and crisp, slightly astringent tannins, really quite elegant with great cut and focus 3
Dark with extremely intense flavors of earth and spice that surround a deep, chewy core of dark, slightly bitter, slightly medicinal fruits 3
Finishes with big structure almost a bit stern but with tons of dark berry fruit, long and very fine with real persistence to the red fruits and floral inner mouth perfume 3

Barolo 2004 – 91pts
1,500 bottles
Old woody on the nose with a touch of cow patty, intense with a sharp note of green fruits then laurel laced red berry, a bit red curranty, very fresh and pure 3
Fresh, bright and friendly in the mouth with moderate tannins and brisk acidity 2+
Very transparent wild cherry fruit with attractive notes of sandlewood, and balsamic incense tones adding complexity, round and developed flavors with a nice medicinal top note and a flourish of roasted herbs 2+
A bit more defined and structural on the finish which offers classic cherry pit, clay, white mineral earth notes ending with a touch of dried flowers. About as good as a base Barolo gets. A textbook example 3

Barolo Vigna Santa Caterina 2005
Barrel Sample – A bit of barrel stink and hard but has that tone that emerges as cow patty from the bottled wine. Big in the mouth with superb tannins and bright acids offering a bright, erect, transparent character that reveals dark cherry and melon rind fruit tones with a touch of bitter almond lingering in the background. Finishes with lots of fine grained tannins that clamp down on the finish. (91-94)

Barolo Lazzairasco 2005
Barrel Sample – Barrel stink but very bright with intense sandlewood/ spicy lumber tones over deep fruit. Superb freshness in the mouth with excellent purity, clarity and precision to the dark, penetrating fruit tones. Deep dark wild cherry fruit tones are framed with cocoa tinged earth notes and slightly vegetal herb and root notes all offering up admirable complexity. Finishes very short but with great breadth to the huge dark fruit character. (92-96)
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