Winemaker Notes
Intense garnet red color. On the nose you can perceive delicate aromas of small ripe red fruits. In the mouth it has an excellent balance and good freshness with tannins present and well-integrated which give the wine a good structure and excellent persistence.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Gorgeous perfumes of flowers and dark fruit with orange peel. Full-bodied with plenty of fruit and firm and integrated tannins. Thick silky texture. Fresh in the finish. It goes on for minutes. Available in 2025. Best after 2029.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2020 Barbaresco Riserva Asili was aged for 20 months in barrel followed by two years in bottle. In this vintage (as in 2021), the weather conditions and the maturity of the grapes were evident in the vineyard, indicating that they would produce the red label Riserva bottling this year. (In other vintages, that decision has been made in the cellar.) In the glass, the wine displays a medium red transparent hue and offers fantastic layers of incense, Asian spices, fresh currants, and raspberries. The palate is elegant and refined, with a long, graceful feel. It’s very long on the palate, with a balanced, fruity feel, and its perfume lasts on the finish, featuring notes of apricot perfume. It's gorgeous already, but I would stash this away and check back in a few years. It’s deceptively approachable now but has the structure to age over the coming decades. This vintage reminds Bruna Giacosa of 2000, a vintage marked with similar elegance.
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Decanter
Bottled in 2022, the Asili Riserva slowly divulges plum blossoms, cherry, crushed allspice and a touch of incense. The palate is effortlessly balanced with the silkiest mouthfeel and extraordinary freshness. I love the dark earthiness that emerges with a faint touch of tar. The tannins are tightly knit, demonstrating an elegance that will stand the test of time. Like several of her peers, Bruna Giacosa compares 2020 to 2000, describing the pair as more elegant than the structured vintages of 2021 and 2001 which have their own resemblance. She voices her preference for the former duo.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Packaged with the red label, the Bruno Giacosa 2020 Barbaresco Riserva Asili was a little shy when I tasted it, but it clearly has the runway for long cellar aging. It opens to a medium-plus texture with a darker hue of ruby red. The tannins are elegant and fine, and although this was a warm vintage, the fruit feels very fresh and taut. You get good structure and firm tannins to carry it over the long term.
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Vinous
The 2020 Barbaresco Asili Riserva is a sensual beauty. Dark and expansive on the palate, with gorgeous resonance, the 2020 is seriously impressive. Wild cherry, lavender, cedar, new leather and spice build effortlessly in the glass as the 2020 works its way through the mid-palate and into its beautifully reverberating finish. The 2020 is quite simply one of the very finest Red Labels in some time.
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Wine Spectator
Macerated cherry and raspberry flavors combine with black pepper, menthol and iron notes in this elegant yet well-structured version. Well-endowed tannins define the finish, putting the brakes on the fruity and savory elements for now. The long, vigorous aftertaste reveals this red’s potential.
One of the legendary winemakers of the world, Bruno Giacosa crafted the most prestigious single-vineyard Barolo and Barbaresco wines during a career that spanned nearly eight decades. He joined the family business at the age of 15, representing the third generation of his Langhe winemaking family. Giacosa’s unfailing pursuit of perfection, his unrivalled palate and his intimate knowledge of vineyards in the Langhe quickly drew recognition and helped establish Piedmont as a leading wine region. In 1982, Giacosa began to acquire prime parcels in Serralunga d’Alba, La Morra and Barbaresco to produce wines that are rightly regarded as the finest expressions of Nebbiolo.
His legacy rests with daughter Bruna, who continues to uphold her father’s winemaking philosophy to respect traditional techniques while using the best of modern technology. The goal is for each distinguished site to produce articulate, unique wines.
The “Azienda Agricola Falletto – di Bruno Giacosa” label represents wines made from estate vineyards. The “Casa Vinicola Bruno Giacosa” label appears on wines made from purchased grapes that are made with the same care in the Nieve winery.
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.