Mario Giribaldi Barolo Ravera Riserva 2013
- 96
- $140
- Drink by: 2025-2045
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A brilliant Barolo with more than a decade in age already under its belt. Drinking beautifully now, but it certainly has another fifteen to twenty years ahead of it, in good cellars. For enjoying today, several hours decanting seems a minimum requirement. There is a brightness to the colour, and yet it is a deep red. The complexity here is immediately obvious. Tobacco leaf notes, florals, hints of orange rind, mulberries and truffles are all present and correct. The texture is supple, the wine is clean and balanced and there is a lingering finish. It also has the famous tar and roses characters, but there are also notes of sun dried tomatoes on the palate. This is a cracker.
Ken was born and bred in Brisbane, Queensland. He had a non-trendy, perfectly happy childhood, in a family convinced alcohol meant instant condemnation to Hades. But a break fishing on the Great Barrier Reef, and some good wine, started a serious obsession that eventually took over. It did not stop Ken being chastised later for drinking Pol champagne, disgusted he’d drink anything made by a Cambodian dictator. Now, Ken mostly writes on wine, champagne and spirits for various newspapers, magazines and books, but is perhaps best known for his work in The Courier Mail. He also has a little sideline writing on cigars, fishing, travel and food. When not writing, fly-fishing for trout in NZ or bonefish on the flats of Cuba, travelling or smoking cigars, he is no doubt following a variety of sporting teams – the occasionally glorious Queensland Reds rugby, the dysfunctional Washington Redskins, the dodgy Arsenal and especially revels in the world restored to its proper axis with the return of the Ashes to their rightful home.
