Winemaker Notes
The 2014 Cantina del Pino Ovello Barbaresco is a ruby red intense color with an edge of pomegranate with a soft scent of prune, fruits of the forest with a note of mint....elegant with a good tannins, soft and silky, balanced with fresh acidity and an intriguing scent of balsamic.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The beautiful 2014 Barbaresco Ovello opens to a precious and delicate personality. There is plenty of aromatic intensity here, and it comes forth with dried blueberry, pressed violet, wild rose and earthy truffle. The mouthfeel is silky and smooth, but it also shows firm density and solid structure. This Barbaresco should hold nicely for the next 15 years or so.
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Wine Spectator
Cherry, menthol, licorice and sweet spice flavors mingle in this dense red. Expressive and complex, underscored by a muscular structure. Fine length. Best from 2022 through 2040.
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Wine Enthusiast
Racy and focused, this has aromas of exotic spice, coconut and star anise. The aromas carry over to the elegantly structured linear palate along with sour cherry and cranberry set against fine-grained tannins and vibrant acidity.
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.