1990 Barolo Sori Ginestra

The 1990 Barolo Sori Ginestra is fully mature and ready to drink. Cinnamon, menthol, licorice and fragrant dark fruit emerge from this layered, deep Barolo. The tannins are still hanging onto life, but only by a thread, and the wine is best enjoyed over the next year or so. Anticipated maturity: 2010. Claudio Conterno and Guido Fantino started their winery in 1982. Conterno’s family owned one of the many estates that supplied wines in barrel to the region’s top bottlers, including Prunotto, Bersano and Rocche dei Manzoni, although he himself had originally studied for a career in engineering. Fantino worked at Prunotto until 1981, when he married Conterno’s sister. The partnership of the two families, captured here in its early days, has gone on to produce some of Piedmont’s most memorable wines. The 1989 and 1990 Barolos, from the Ginestra vineyard in Monforte, were vinified in cement for 10-12 days and then aged in cask. Conterno-Fantino has come a long way since these wines were made.