The 1990 Barolo Riserva Brunate is very much a mirror image of the vintage; fat, rich and opulent, with gorgeous inner perfume and superb balance. It is awfully hard to pick a favorite here, as both wines are drop-dead gorgeous. Wow! Despite the wine’s huge fruit the tannins and structure remain formidable, and this is one case where the 1990 may very well age at the same pace as the 1989. In fact, this is one of the few 1990s that comes across as needing more time! In any event, the 1990 Barolo Riserva Brunate is a monumental, towering wine from one of Barolo’s icon producers. Anticipated maturity: 2010-2025. Giuseppe Rinaldi’s Barolos are among the rarest and most difficult wines to source, as they are rapidly snapped up by the estate’s loyal, long-time clients and rarely appear at auction, especially in meaningful quantities. These two Barolos were breathtaking from the moment they were poured. The colors alone had me practically salivating with anticipation, as I knew the moment I saw these wines emerge from the bottle I was about to encounter something special. For starters, the wines were noticeably fresher than the same wines I have purchased and consumed often over the years, which leads me to believe bottles sent to the US were not treated as well as they deserved to be. Secondly, these 1989 and 1990s are the very rare Brunate-only Riserva, a wine Rinaldi no longer produces (officially). Long macerations, no temperature control in the cellar and extended aging in casks continue to be the rule here, and when Rinaldi gets it right, as he did in 1989 and 1990, the results are nothing short of extraordinary.