Giuseppe Rinaldi | Barolo "Brunate" 1991 (Magnum 1.5L - Rare Beetle Label)

Beppe Rinaldi said a good Barolo "has corners, not curves" and is made for long ageing; this 1991 Brunate wears the stag-beetle label with its hand-written vintage.

The label itself is the first document. It reads Barolo delle Brunate, riserva speciale, vendemmia 1991, vinificato e imbottigliato da Giuseppe Rinaldi, viticoltore a Barolo, at 13.5% vol. On the left, in place of the gold lyre printed on the standard 1991 release, a hand-coloured stag beetle climbs a rose branch, drawn by Gianni Gallo, who also drew the 1989 Vietti Villero Riserva label. Ken Vastola's Fine Wine Geek register says Rinaldi used the beetle label mainly for European releases and magnums, with the vintage written by hand, and lists the 1991 Brunate only as a standard bottling; the riserva speciale wording belongs to this series, not to a separate cuvée on record.

Rinaldi farms 6.1 hectares, 3.8 of them Nebbiolo for Barolo, split between Brunate, Le Coste, Cannubi San Lorenzo and Ravera, all inside the commune of Barolo. Brunate straddles Barolo and La Morra, and the family's 1.2 hectares sit on the Barolo side. Marta Rinaldi calls the site "the Serralunga inside La Morra", a vineyard of tough structure. From 1970 to 1990 Battista Rinaldi kept Brunate apart and bottled it alone, or as a Riserva, in the better years. 1991 falls in the hand-over: Battista had been ill since 1988 and died in 1992, and Beppe, until then a veterinarian, took full charge. From 1993 he folded Le Coste into the wine as Brunate-Le Coste, around 10,000 bottles a year, which leaves 1991 among the last vintages labelled Brunate on its own.

Beppe's own line on method was that the way earlier generations reached natural balance in Barolo was, for him, still the right one. He died on 2 September 2018; Antonio Galloni wrote that it felt like the end of a chapter in the history of Barolo, and his daughters Marta and Carlotta now run the cellar.

In the glass

The Danish merchant Winesomm, which has sold this vintage, describes the 1991 Brunate as violets, mint, tobacco, chocolate and flowers, with plenty of energy, and detail and depth in a class of its own. Vinous included the 1991 in its Rinaldi Brunate retrospective of May 2017; we have not read that score. The label gives 13.5% alcohol.

When to open

Winesomm gives a window of 2014 to 2028 at 16 to 18 C. Marta Rinaldi, quoted by Racines in 2017, holds that good-vineyard Nebbiolo is still young at thirty. Our suggestion: stand upright a day ahead, decant off the sediment.

At the table

Winesomm pairs this vintage with lamb and beef. Our suggestion: braised beef cheek or roast lamb with rosemary, and a plate of aged Castelmagno.

Quick facts

Provenance

Sourced from the Japanese importer.

Sources: Bottle label; Fine Wine Geek (K. Vastola); Bordeaux Index; Vinifera; Racines (Japanese importer, M. Terashita); Winesomm; Vinous; Robert Parker database