Bruno Giacosa Santo Stefano di Neive Riserva Barbaresco Nebbiolo 1988

Mike Saviage

Tasted blind. Light amber with a reddish hint. Italian nose. Notes of tea, roses, some anise. Nice earthy mouth feel. Feminine and delicate, yet it's all there with structure and impact. I'm in Giacosa Barbaresco camp with my guesses, debating if this is as old as something from the 60s or maybe it's the 82. One of my favorite wines of the evening.

Conrad Green

Dark plum fruit. Some garrigue and dark cherry. Dried herbs. Great

Mike Saviage

Brownish amber color, translucent. Sweet nose. Notes of cherries, sweet raisins, roses, some tar, dark earth and peppery spice. Rich mouth feel. Silky. Fruit is faded at first but then becomes a bit more prominent. Needed 3 hours of air to power up the structure and acidity. In hour 5 this was singing! The amber color and slightly faded fruit scares me about how long of a life these bottles have, but there’s no denying that tonight this is a powerhouse and hopefully it delivers for many years to come.

George Tita

Redined tannins, interesting but not great. This bottle is a little more advanced than expected.

Jeffrey Lew

Off bottle but can see the quality here.

B

Magnum 1988 Bruno Giacosa Santo Stefano di Neive Riserva Barbaresco. We really enjoyed drinking this out of magnum at Union. Didn't decant for very long- under an hour for sure. Had that slight raisiny, pruney quality, along with some floral notes, tar, and mineral. We all really enjoyed this wine and glad we didn't decant for too long as it started petering out after a while in the glass. Was glad we drank it before the 1994 Harlan out of magnum!