Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Paitin 2022 Barbaresco Serraboella reveals pretty complexity with tart cherry flavors, cassis, rose tea and pressed violets. There is a hint of mineral or pencil shaving, and these balanced flavors tie in nicely into the wine's silky tannins and taut structure. This pretty wine offers great tension and energy.
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Vinous
The 2022 Barbaresco Serraboella is another success for Paitin in this vintage. A wine of reserved power, the 2022 needs a few years to come together, but it has considerable potential. Dark red fruit, iron, new leather, incense and blood orange infuse the 2022 with tons of character. Give the bruising tannins a few years to soften. This understated Barbaresco packs quite the punch. An iron fist in a velvet glove.
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Wine Spectator
A beam of cherry courses through this otherwise austere red, along with savory notes of wild herbs, earth and iron. Supple in texture, this is backed by a base of dense, dusty tannins, with a flash of the cherry fruit echoing on the finish
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Decanter
From this renowned Barbaresco cru, Paitin's expression is full of woodland notes and floral cherry and strawberry aromas, plus a touch of mint. Ripe and juicy in the mouth, the fruit is surrounded by a wash of acidity and some oyster shell salinity. Refined and vertical, with fine, structural tannins and good concentration.
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James Suckling
A layered wine with licorice, embers, red currants, fresh violets and a whiff of camphor. Medium-bodied on the crunchy palate, offering crisp acidity, chalky tannins and a tight yet polished finish.
Responsible for some of the most elegant and age-worthy wines in the world, Nebbiolo, named for the ubiquitous autumnal fog (called nebbia in Italian), is the star variety of northern Italy’s Piedmont region. Grown throughout the area, as well as in the neighboring Valle d’Aosta and Valtellina, it reaches its highest potential in the Piedmontese villages of Barolo, Barbaresco and Roero. Outside of Italy, growers are still very much in the experimentation stage but some success has been achieved in parts of California. Somm Secret—If you’re new to Nebbiolo, start with a charming, wallet-friendly, early-drinking Langhe Nebbiolo or Nebbiolo d'Alba.
A wine that most perfectly conveys the spirit and essence of its place, Barbaresco is true reflection of terroir. Its star grape, like that in the neighboring Barolo region, is Nebbiolo. Four townships within the Barbaresco zone can produce Barbaresco: the actual village of Barbaresco, as well as Neive, Treiso and San Rocco Seno d'Elvio.
Broadly speaking there are more similarities in the soils of Barbaresco and Barolo than there are differences. Barbaresco’s soils are approximately of the same two major soil types as Barolo: blue-grey marl of the Tortonion epoch, producing more fragile and aromatic characteristics, and Helvetian white yellow marl, which produces wines with more structure and tannins.
Nebbiolo ripens earlier in Barbaresco than in Barolo, primarily due to the vineyards’ proximity to the Tanaro River and lower elevations. While the wines here are still powerful, Barbaresco expresses a more feminine side of Nebbiolo, often with softer tannins, delicate fruit and an elegant perfume. Typical in a well-made Barbaresco are expressions of rose petal, cherry, strawberry, violets, smoke and spice. These wines need a few years before they reach their peak, the best of which need over a decade or longer. Bottle aging adds more savory characteristics, such as earth, iron and dried fruit.