Giacomo Conterno is one of the great producers in Italy's Piemonte region, with their top Barolos among the finest examples of Nebbiolo anywhere (with prices to match). Thankfully, Conterno has also produced some fine lower-end wines as well, and this is one I've been holding onto for a few years. The late Giovanni Conterno was still making the wines at his family's estate in 1998, so though it was a vintage overshadowed by some of the vintages just before and after, I was still confident in what it could have. I had actually tasted this when I first purchased some, and felt it had some aging potential.
I was quite pleased to find that the 1998 Conterno Langhe Nebbiolo had aged very well. Over two nights, it opened up quite well and did not really fade out. It showed some of the typical traits one would find in a Barolo with a brick color and elegance that certainly had come about with age. For the $20 I paid for this wine about 4-5 years ago, it was definitely worth saving a bottle and seeing what a master craftsman like Giovanni Conterno could do. Unfortunately, I don't have any of his Barolos, but I do have a few 1998s from other top producers that I feel confident still have a few years before they will really be ready to show all they have. For those who don't want to spend big money on Barolo or Barbaresco, I highly recommend searching out the lower-priced Langhe Nebbiolos of some of the top producers from the region, as they can deliver fine examples of this grape at a reasonable price, even with some age.
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