Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Rose petal, perfumed berry, new leather, pressed powder and underbrush are just some of the enticing scents you'll find on this stunning wine. The structured palate is loaded with finesse, offering crushed cherry, black raspberry and licorice accompanied by polished tannins. This is the firm's last vintage of Santo Stefano, and they nailed it. Drink 2017–2026.
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James Suckling
A wine with silky tannins and pretty bright fruit of strawberries and sliced plums and hints of flowers. Full body, fine tannins and a wonderful clarity. Lovely length of fruit. This is the last vintage of Santo Stefano for Giacosa after many decades of success. Needs at least four or five years to soften. Try in 2016.
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Wine Spectator
Graphite, floral, cherry, licorice and tobacco aromas and flavors abound in this firm, muscular red, which stays bright and focused, with a chewy, savory finish. The last vintage of Santo Stefano under the Giacosa label. Best from 2016 through 2025.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
This 2011 Barbaresco Albesani Vigna Santo Stefano is on the market since February and has had ample time to flesh out over the last six months of bottle aging. The wine opens to a light garnet color and immediate fruit tones that veer towards the jammy side with sun-dried strawberry and raspberry. It shows a good level of freshness and acidity to counter the warmer tendencies of the bouquet. The tannins deliver a smooth, silky quality and the wine starts to show pretty aromas of wet earth and black truffle after a few minutes in the glass. Drink: 2015-2030.
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.