Wine: Lano Barbaresco

One of the nice things about having lunch at a restaurant with friends is that it makes it easier to split a bottle of wine. Yesterday, a few friends and I had such an opportunity at a local Italian restaurant named Firefly. They have a website that makes me cringe and the food was hit & miss, but the wine we shared was surprisingly good.

Made by Gianluigi Lano, the 1998 Lano Barbaresco can be had a for less than $40 online and in my opinion is well worth it. Like any other wine I've had made from the Nebbiolo grape, it took some time to open up and probably would have benefited from having been open even longer than it was. The Lano was a delight to look at: beautiful brick red with an excellent gradient from the center to the edges.

It is definitely the kind of wine you can relax with, simply smelling its complex and largely floral bouquet. Barbarescos, in my experience, have a tendancy towards spice that this wine didn't -- while there was some notable spice in the bouquet, it complemented a scent of orange peel very well. The Lano was soft and the smell of dark fruits come out more clearly upon drinking. The level of oak was pleasant and it had a long, dry, clean finish. For the 1998 vintage, this wine is to me definitely a winner.

Value: 3.5
Color & Clarity: 4.0
Bouquet: 3.5
Flavor: 3.5