SOLD OUT - Bargain and Barolo are rarely used in the same sentence, but Luigi Oddero's new 'Convento' Barolo is exactly that. At less than $40 and coming from a great importer, producer, and vintage, this is the "stuff" that Nebbiolo dreams are made of!
A new wine brought to us by Neal Rosenthal, one of our country's finest importers, this is one of those once in a lifetime "wine deals." I bought all 7 cases that made it to North Carolina, and I'm offering this up at an absurd price.
2016 Luigi Oddero 'Convento' Barolo
One of the great Barolo deals of a lifetime!
SOLD OUT
What we have here is an incredible producer, an incredible winemaker, and an incredible vintage in one of Italy's most famous DOCG's. The Luigi Oddero estate possesses 35 hectares in La Morra, an acclaimed zone of Barolo known for producing some of the region's most elegant and perfumed wines. Usually, the estate sells off a portion of its grapes, but in the fantastic 2016 vintage, new cellar-master Francesco Verzio (formerly of Bruno Giacosa) recommended they use this pristine fruit to produce a "second" wine to their 'Tradizionale' Barolo.
This is the debut release of Convento, and it is undoubtedly one of the best Barolo values I will ever offer you. Fermented just like Oddero's 'Tradizionale' Barolo, with fermentation occurring in stainless steel and aging taking place in older oak, this is the essence of Nebbiolo and the essence of La Morra Barolo. Verzio has brought a welcome touch of elegance to the Oddero estate's hardline-old-school Barolos, and Convento indeed emphasizes purity of fruit over structure, with a lifted mineral streak of lovely clarity.
That said, it is still very much a traditional Barolo, bearing no trace of oak aromatics or wood tannins, and with a perfume simultaneously ethereal and savory. I'm not going to go deeper on tasting notes on this one folks. If you get a bottle or more, you will know right way that you are drinking the good stuff.
Even better, La Morra Barolos like this drink well early in their lives as long as you decant them for at least 2 hours. Although this would go incredibly well with a mushroom risotto or veal ossobuco, I recommend you enjoy this slowly over the course of an evening.
Josh Spurling
Owner, Operator, Wine Monger
Table Wine Asheville