We having some Rare-Breed Sausages last night that I bought at the local Farmers market ( tasted them and then could not resist), and I wanted to have something quite high in acidity that would cut through the fat and something that had a bit of a woody edge..... so I chose a Barolo that was on the rack in the cellar - and was a pressie from somebody a few years ago and needed to be drunk.
The wine had a definite medium depth, garnet colour, core with narrow rim, the legs that formed on the glass sides when swirled were slow and pale.
On popping our nose into the glass - cedar, smoke, tea, herbs, spice and generally perfumed, I would say a touch of Earl Grey Tea and there were faded red fruit notes, this wine has gone over the hill I feel, the fruit has faded and wood / tertiry notes have taken over.....but still beautiful and elegant.
On tasting it the first flavours noted were tea / herbs and near the bottom of the list was red fruits - faded but still present. Other notes were that the cedar and spice were overpowering, then rose, herbs and leather all played a part in this wines character. The tannins still obvious and chalky and green tasting, the acidity was fresh and the alcohol in balance, the length was very long with a cedar / cinnamon bark edge and a tea soaked, sharp sour cherry end.
Overall we really enjoyed the wine - despite the fading fruits, the tertiary notes really suited the wine and it went so well with our sausages, which were what I would call ' old fashioned Pork with a good mix of herbs', how good sausages are meant to taste, and they had texture was not smooth or homogenous - so a success!
Final thoughts on the wine - this was not an a-typical Barolo, the year 2002, was a difficult one with a 30 minute hail storm ruining many producers chances of a good crop of grapes, and this followed a wet summer, some producers were lucky and had good vintages, but I feel this wine was not the best example, and also should have been drunk a couple of years ago.
Radcliffe’s wines are owned and distributed by Thierry’s Wine Services, they pick 'the best' and have it bottled under their own lable to sell. The cost was probably around the £20 mark when purchased.
