Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Full bodied and fragrant, this boasts heady aromas of red rose, wild berry, pipe tobacco and new leather. On the enveloping, delicious palate, taut, velvety tannins accompany juicy Marasca cherry, spiced cranberry and star anise before closing on a crushed mint note. Drink 2022–2032.
Cellar Selection -
Jeb Dunnuck
Elisa is named for the daughter of Anna Lisa and Elvio and is sourced from south-facing vines in the cru of Rombone just north of Valeriano, also within Treiso. The 2017 Barbaresco Rombone Elisa is rich with aromas of confected red plum, clove, fresh leather, and tar. The palate is inviting, with dried apricot, raspberry leather, warming baking spice, and dried orange peel, and it has a long finish with balanced, classic structure. Drink 2024 through 2042.
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James Suckling
Aromas of ripe strawberries, hot coffee and fresh mushrooms follow through to a full body with round, chewy tannins and an austere, spicy finish. The tannins are tight and slightly dry, but the fruit is pretty.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Ada Nada 2017 Barbaresco Rombone Elisa offers light fruit texture and brightness, with underlined aromas of cherry, raspberry and cassis. Those berry notes are quickly followed by spice, crushed flower and easy mineral tones. There is a sweet note to the fruit that you taste now in this youthful phase of the wine, and the alcohol content is registered at 15%. The accessible and silky tannins open this vintage up to a near-term drinking window. Production is only 4,000 bottles.
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.