2009 Barolo & Piedmont Vintage

The 2009 campaign began with a winter of heavy snowfalls and a rainy early spring, which guaranteed excellent soil water reserves. Several days of rain in April, combined with mild temperatures, brought slight symptoms of downy mildew, especially at low altitudes and in vineyards with lusher vegetation, but a dry, ventilated May kept the attack from reaching a scale that could have compromised the vintage. The vine's development began late but recovered quickly against the average of recent years. Summer brought an almost total lack of rain and intense heat, especially in the second half of August, and the winter and spring water reserves proved vital in averting water stress. Roberto Voerzio told JamesSuckling.com: "We had a very hot stage in early August that gave the grapes great ripeness but then it was cool and fresh the rest of the season as well as during the harvest." The harvest was brought forward almost everywhere. Picking began in the third week of August for Moscato, Brachetto and the Pinot and Chardonnay used for sparkling bases; Arneis ran from around 10 September to around 20 September, when Dolcetto and Barbera began, followed by Nebbiolo.

Ripening was irregular, driven more by soil climate than by variety: in some areas Barbera ripened before Dolcetto. The Consorzio placed the vintage's technological maturation between 2003 and 2007, with plenty of sugars, and malic acid levels at picking were below average everywhere. The Consorzio saw good potential for a vintage that could prove among the very best of recent years. For grapes grown for ageing wines such as Nebbiolo, phenolic maturation data were comparable to 2003; colour tended to be light from the first samples and the data held fairly stable, so delaying the harvest did not always improve results. The grapes lend themselves to ageing provided the right measures are taken in the winery. Where vineyard management and planting decisions were correct, quality was higher, and vineyards with less meticulous leaf management were more exposed to fungal attack.

A JamesSuckling.com report of 12 January 2014 found the 2009 Barolos bright and fruit-forward, with bold acidity and ripe tannins giving them tension and definition, and called them lively and drinkable now. It judged that 2008 made slightly more complex Barolos, but that the 2009s were not far off. In Decanter's rating of the Barolo vintages of the 2000s, Michaela Morris gave 2009 3.5/5, calling it neither among the region's superlative vintages nor a write-off, with previous experience of dry, hot vintages serving producers well. A retrospective showed the wines ageing quite quickly, with surly tannins poking through in some and fruit starting to oxidise. Her advice: "Drink 2009s soon, before the fruit fades."

Decanter's Michaela Morris named several 2009s that had shown well. Fratelli Alessandria's Monvigliero was evolving more harmoniously, Cogno's Ravera showed the advantage of a cool site, and Oddero's Vignarionda Riserva achieved exquisite balance. Azelia's Voghera Riserva and Ceretto's Cannubi San Lorenzo made a strong case for old vines in difficult years, and Cannubi lived up to its lofty reputation through Giacomo Fenocchio, Brezza and, above all, GB Burlotto.