Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
An elegant style, boasting cherry, strawberry, rose, menthol and iron aromas and flavors. The supple texture transitions to a base of chalky tannins, with vanilla and oak spice accents on the long finish. Patience required. Best from 2028 through 2045.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2021 Barbaresco Bricco Di Neive Vie Erte comes from Bricco Nieve, which is directly in front of the estate, on sandy soils with 25-year-old vines. Aged for 26 months in large Slavonian oak casks, it’s a medium bright red color, and the nose offers good, focused aromas of ripe cranberries, candied orange peel, fresh roses, and stony earth. Medium-bodied, the palate is very elegant, with notes of apricot, ripe, well-defined tannins, even acidity, and a great finish. I love where this wine is now, but it will improve over the next 8-10 years. Drink 2025-2040.
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Vinous
The 2021 Barbaresco Bricco di Neive Vie Erte is superb. Bright red cherry fruit, chalk, mint, white pepper and crushed rocks all race out of the glass. This vibrant, sinewy Barbaresco has so much to offer. Its energy is remarkable. The intensely palate-staining mineral finish is a thing of beauty. All the 2021 needs is time. This is super-classic Nebbiolo from Barbaresco.
Rating: 94+
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.