Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
This is an impressive wine that beautifully captures the classic personality of this vintage. The Bruno Rocca 2016 Barbaresco Currà sees fruit from Neive, a subzone that is often characterized by the subtle power and structure of its wines. In this vintage, Currà shows balanced fruit intensity with delicate hints of toasted almond, iron rust and aniseed. There is depth and persistence for long cellar aging. What I like best about this wine is that it captures the essence of Barbaresco, a winemaking zone focused on Nebbiolo that often delivers a more open-knit and fragile interpretation when compared to neighboring Barolo. Currà is aged in small oak barrels for one year, with a second year in large oak casks, topped off with 10 months in bottle.
-
James Suckling
Such beautiful, ripe fruit on the nose with strawberry and floral undertones. Medium-bodied with round, juicy tannins. Orange peel and hints of meat. Some walnut undertones. Drink after 2023.
-
Wine Enthusiast
Fragrant purple flower, tilled soil, wild berry and an espresso note shape the enticing nose. Elegantly structured, the focused palate delivers juicy red cherry, strawberry compote and licorice while taut fine-grained tannins provide seamless support. It's nicely balanced, with bright acidity. Drink 2022–2036.
-
Wine Spectator
A dense, compact version, whose cherry and raspberry fruit is hidden behind tar, iron, woodsy underbrush flavors and big, beefy tannins. Patience required. Best from 2024 through 2045.
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.