2013 BAROLO RISERVA RÜNCOT ELIO GRASSO - 6x75cl

Tasting Notes

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  Antonio Galloni, November 2019,
  Score: 97+

  The 2013 Barolo Riserva Rüncot is a stunning beauty. Vibrant and powerful in the glass, the 2013 shows all of the classical austerity of this late-ripening vintage along with the extra kick of richness that comes from three and a half years in 100% new French oak. Dark macerated cherry, tobacco, spice, licorice and dried flowers flesh out in a wine that is powerful, sumptuous and full-bodied to the core. Grasso will release the 2013 in 2020, a year later that is typical, but that probably won't be enough for this wine to be fully expressive. Rüncot is a wine that needs time to fully emerge, but the 2013 is incredibly promising even in the early going. Wow!

• 

  Wine Advocate, July 2020,
  Score: 100

  If any Italian wine from this decade can undeniably be called a reserve, it is the 2013 Barolo Riserva Rüncot. This wine was not made in 2011, 2012, 2014, 2017 nor 2018. (The 2013 vintage will be released commercially in February of 2020, and this is the wine's first official review.) Gianluca Grasso holds the precious bottle I tasted from as if it were a newborn child. This vintage saw a relatively long growing season, and it offers greater fruit density, structure and acidity than the last edition that was made, the 2010. There is more vibrancy here and a true sense of energy brimming right there under the surface. The wine goes through 45 days of extended maceration post-fermentation and then a solid seven years of aging between oak and bottle. The resulting Riserva Rüncot has a stunning bouquet that is all violets and prunes, followed by a classic palate of minerals, herbs, cinnamon and delicate wafts of white truffle. This wine tells a story from nose to finish, like a flashing film reel. Fewer than 5,000 bottles were made. This is a crowning achievement

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Producer

Elio Grasso

A new producer for Goedhuis Co, we only recently learned that we were able to secure an allocation of these extremely impressive wines. A family-owned and run estate, they currently own 18 hectares of vines. Like most Piedmontese growers, they used to grow grapes and sell them as well as wine in bulk to the local co-op. But in the early 1980s, all of that changed when Elio took over from his father and began bottling wines under his own name. His philosophy is to work foremost with what nature provides in order to showcase the characteristics of the terroir. So the vineyards are managed with the most natural methods, ensuring a proper microbiological balance. In doing so, the earth's innate minerality can surface forging a beautiful chiselled quality in the wines. Indeed, their Barolos are some of the most pure, ethereal and focused that we have ever tasted. But their Barbera is fantastic too and well worth discovering.