- Event: 2011 Barolo Tasting and Dinner
- Date: 28/03/2023
- Time: 19:00
- Location: Piazza Italiana
- Price: £365 (inc VAT)
We are delighted to offer you the opportunity to taste an extensive range of 2011 Barolo.
Simon has had the idea to hold a Barolo dinner focusing on the 2011 vintage for quite some time. Why?
- The majority of 2011s are drinking superbly as it was a warmer vintage, with the resultant wines revealing lower acidity.
- 2011 was deemed a moderate vintage on release and yet there are a number of significant surprises, not just picked up by me, but more recently by critics.
- Vintage generalisations gloss over the intricacies that make Barolo so fascinating.
- And wouldn’t it be an enjoyable occasion to taste a dozen of the top wines in the vintage and witness for ourselves how they are showing?
The ‘great’ years of Barolo sell well. They pick up on the critical acclaim and sell easily off the back of glowing notes and lofty points, but invariably they need patience to reveal their class. Just chasing the great vintages means you miss the joy to be found in relatively unsung vintages like the 2011s, 2014s, 2015s, 2017s and 2018s – there are quite outstanding Barolos to be found in each of these years, even if perhaps they do not quite reach the high points of years like 2016 and 2019. Production in Barolo is consistently at a very high level, and, if anything, quality has edged forwards in recent years. Antonio Galloni recently highlighted this point with regard to a Bartolo Mascarello Barolo 2011, which he acknowledged surpassed his greatest expectations by some distance. This is the joy of wine and, certainly, I discover more than my fair share of such surprises in Piemonte. I tasted this 2011 a good few years back and have recommended it to clients ever since as it is a spectacular bottle. Equally, the chance to taste 2011s from the late Luciano Sandrone or from high-flying Vietti has underlined the quality and enjoyment that can be found in this vintage.
I do not think this dinner will disappoint; 12 great wines that are all drinking well now, accompanied by brilliant Italian dishes at Piazza Italiana in Threadneedle Street.
The evening will begin at 7pm with a glass of De Sousa Brut Tradition NV before moving onto the tasting and dinner, led by Simon Larkin MW, Richard O'Mahony and Laura Hollingsworth DipWSET.