Piedmont Week - Tuesday - A Favorite, Cordero di Montezemolo

4/7/15 -

(The hill of Monfalletto with the famous Cedar of Lebanon; the Cordero winery is to the left of the hill. Thanks to Gregory Dal Piaz for the photo.)

Cordero di Montezemolo is one of our great favorites for their wines made up until 1990, after which they went to a modern-style wine. Hearsay has it that things are moving back at Cordero, and I was happy to hear that their 2010s were showing much better than other recent vintages I’d tasted. “Quite polished,” a friend who is a trusted taster said, “but wine you would appreciate.” In any event the older wines are absolutely terrific, well-made, classic La Morra Barolos; in fact I cannot remember a single bottle that wasn’t a knock-out. The old wines have significant sediment and need to be decanted and given a long time to open in the decanter; handled properly, you too should love these wines. Jamie Wolff