Today was a special day, a visit to Francescana, I picked up a friend at Bologna’s airport and headed directly for lunch. The restaurant was quiet as we sat down, the service was nearing an end. Perusing the list, I noticed a page named magnum on the left side, on the right were several vintages of the magnificent Barolo Monfortino Riserva.

I asked my friend to select the vintage and he decided on the classic 1996. That it is, we did not decant the wine, instead we used the Coravin, (http://www.coravin.com) and drew a few glasses to try saving the magnum for later.

The 1996 at first was restrained, it has a deep nose, not over bearing but freshness of berry-cherry fruit. The mouth it was expressive, tight and needed a little time to open. The tannins were gentle yet present in the background. I will try this magnum again, perhaps decanting will help brighten the internal light of this wine.

(97 Points)