Franco Fiorina Barolo

1961 Franco Fiorina Barolo: An Ode to Time and Sensory Alchemy To open a bottle of 1961 Franco Fiorina is to exhume a living memory from Barolo’s golden age. This 64-year-old relic proved its pedigree the moment the cork was pulled—half-soaked but resilient, releasing a haunting perfume that filled the room before the first drop even reached the Zalto glass. The visual experience was the first chapter: a translucent, ethereal tawny-red, fading into a delicate brick-gold rim that whispered of …

1961 vintage

Completely different than the last bottle. Cork nearly fully saturated and disintegrating. Decanted gently for a large amount of sediment. Very brown but still quite a bit of light red left. Almost all tertiary aromas of sherry, forest floor, damp wood, mushroom. Still bright with acidity and some tannin still showing. Light body - almost feels like a cool-climate Pinot Noir. Maybe not everyone’s cup of tea, but holding up pretty well for a 64 year old wine.

1961 vintage

Sadly, long dead.

1961 vintage

I will add this same note for my reviews of the 58 & 64 vintages: these wines need TONS OF AIR to show well. All closed and vegetal until 2.5+ hours of ox, decanter & back and forth into the bottle a few times a good idea. Very bright and surprisingly vibrant red color, nice clarity. The acidity is strong and really makes up the backbone of the wine. Slightly baked red fruit notes with herbaceous resinous notes, light pepper …

1961 vintage

Decanted an hour or so before drinking Red fruit (cherry, slight raspberry), strong floral- rose, spice, slight earth. Good acidity. Lingering finish. Pretty elegant.

1961 vintage

OLD Birthday Wines (a few days belated) (Chez S1) : Meaty Umami aromas explode from the bottle upon opening. Even though this bottle is slightly maderized, it still shows some dark red fruit and wonderful depth and multi dimensional flavors of orange peel, leather, autumn leaves, and exotic spice.

1961 vintage

Roses, tar, cherries, everything you'd expect from an old Barolo. Really came alive after several hours of air and was incredible with braised short rib gnocchi. Mostly held its own against a 98 Bartolo Mascarello which is high praise for a relatively unknown producer.

1961 vintage

Rocknroller turns 60: Nose immediately says: tar, and damp earth. Medium body, bright sour red cherry on palate, murky (unfiltered, and only delivered two days ago). Nice tart finish. Sadly we drank this after a lot (too many?) other wines and food. It was pnp at same time blueberry pie was served. Like many Italian wines they show so much better with food. The CT note of jerhardt on 2/20/2021: is spot on, and as he said: "you either like …

1961 vintage

Kevin's Big Six-OHhhhhhhhh Nooooo (Margaux's Table in White Bear Lake) : Always a treat to taste older wines! This wine didn't benefit from the food, as we were in the dessert course when we reached this wine. However, even with that, the wine was still alive with cherry and tar dominating on the palate and some acidity still present. I think this wine is on a downward trajectory, but still breathing life! A treat to drink and 89+ to 90 …

1961 vintage

I don't get barolo. This one was no exception. I'm leaving this unscored because I at least know you need food with barolo, and this was supposed to be an intermezzo between the last course and dessert, but wasn't even poured yet when dessert came. So people either drank the barolo by itself (me) or with dessert. Either way that's a lousy setup for a barolo. But I'm convinced I wouldn't have cared much for this no matter what you …

1961 vintage

One of Those Big Birthdays (Margaux's Table, White Bear Lake, MN) : Medium red murky color. PNP, drank a glass over 30 minutes. The nose is kind of sullen, earthy, celery, tar, mushroom, dried red fruit. The palate is medium bodied, ultra tart, cranberry, bing cherry, vegetal, sous bois, onion soup, resolved tannins. It's always fun to drink these old Barolo's and this birth year wine was a another good one.

1961 vintage

On point, and really good. You either love these or hate them; obviously I’m in the former category. Pale, and nearly translucent, like so many of these wines are. Fully resolved, round, and with nice bottle sweetness. Fully mature, drink any time.

1961 vintage

Tawny colour, very evolved. Intriguing nose - lots of lovage, coffee, tobacco, some liquorice. On the palate soft and smooth, still pretty well balanced, well integrated acidity, quite persistent.

1961 vintage

Needs food (duh) Roast squab and "dirty" risotto I needed the Durand for the cork.; even then a small piece fell into the bottle. Slow ox for ~4 hours and then decant for ~2. Sweet cherry and floral aromatics explode from the bottle upon opening. The color is light orange/red brick, with near transparency at the rim of the glass. On the palate, blood orange and sweet tobacco/leather dominate, with an underlying layer of dried rose petal and light soy. …

1961 vintage

Brought to room temperature twelve hours in advance. Popped and smelled. Notes of Orange, caramel and toasted nuts. Palate of soft cherry fruit. Very light brick red with no thinning on the edges. The finish was thirty seconds per taste. As old as this wine was it drank with such great beauty despite its’ color. Simply delicious. EG #WineArchitect #ArchitecturalArtistry

1961 vintage

Alltid fascinerande att dricka så här gamla viner. Brun genomskinlig färg. Julkryddor, russin och lite likör på näsan. Helt annorlunda i munnen och mina tankar gick till Pinot Noir. Bra syra fortfarande och ett spännande vin.

1961 vintage

This bottle had been resting comfortably in the cellar for quite a while, so no shaking in recent memory. Observed no sediment down the side where it had been resting, which made me think all sediment was caked in the bottom. Stood bottle up for 48 hours and opened just after noon on drinking day. Decanted carefully and cleaned the bottle, confirming my guess that there was considerable caked sediment at the bottom. The wine's color was astoundingly deep and …

1961 vintage

Oxidized

1961 vintage

Cork came out cleanly, in very good shape with the exception of a pinhole leak. The color was good, still very vibrant with a rusty edge. The wine itself was surprisingly open early on with all the typical characteristics in abundance but faded pretty quickly after opening, which has not been by typical experience with older Barolo.

1961 vintage

Chicago Wine Flock...Gary Opening Well Aged Barolo (Ada Street - Chicago IL) : Open several hours before serving with a quick decant shortly before pouring. Tea color with rose petal aromas. Subtle overall flavors with faint red fruit and lots of earth. Very classic with moderate intensity.

1961 vintage

It's time has long since passed. Extremely light color, like scotch. some VA nose. Palate was red apple... Old but fun to try.

1961 vintage

Cork came out in nearly one piece, which was much better than the previous bottle opened in May 2012. With the cork removed, and before I poured it in the glass, all I could smell was some French toast, Sherry and Maderized notes. However, after an hour of slow-O and with 15 minutes in the glass, this changed dramatically. The VA was gone and very soft red fruits and tertiary aromas and flavors emerged. It even got better into the …

1961 vintage

Very much past its prime notwithstanding a cork that came out cleanly and appeared to be in pretty good shape for its age. As soon as I saw the color, I knew it was all over. 13,0% abv https://italianwine.blog/

1961 vintage

I decanted this bottle about 30 minutes before we drank it just to remove the sediment which was substantial. It was a clear light brickish red color. No mistaking this wine for a recent vintage from the nose. Aromas of smokey fruit, almond and wet earth. This wine held up better than the 1967 Borgogno Barolo Riserva that I had a few months ago. I was surprised at how much fruit this wine had left. Nontheless it was primarily an …

1961 vintage

Are you sure?

Franco Fiorina Barolo

Vintages

Community Reviews