At 13% alcohol, the 1971 Marchese Villadoria Barbaresco cost under $15 back then and today scored 17+ points on the 20-point Dionysian scale.

Rose pedal, herbs, sweet road tar and smoke projected upward. There was very little sediment from decanting. The wine was ideal and held together through the meal. Holding its peak at 50 years old.

It was served at 70 degrees with a pasta course in a heavy meat sauce.

The wine and food married together perfectly. It made a basic evening dinner change into an experience worth remembering. Old wine.s can do that. The bottles are covered in the same manner as they were when they were shipped down from the winery on donkey carts. In Vino Veritas.