The 1990 possesses more richness and jamminess than the 1989, but it is essentially a one-dimensional, straightforward wine of no real depth or complexity. It is one thing to produce a rich, concentrated wine that can be drunk young, but it is an entirely different thing to produce a wine that must be drunk young because of a lack of substance and concentration. Cordero di Montezemolo is one of the early advocates of the modern style of Barolo, emphasizing soft tannin and precocious, flattering, ripe fruit. I admired some of this estate's wines from the seventies and eighties, but the four offerings reviewed in this issue were among the lightest and least concentrated wines I tasted.
Importer: a Neil Empson Selection, Empson USA, Inc., Alexandria, VA. ; Bertin Henri Selections, 10900 NW 21st St, Unit 180, Doral, FL 33172; tel: (305) 343-4054