Winemaker Notes
Serve with roast and braised red meats, game, truffle dishes, mature cheeses.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2017 Barbaresco Serraboella has lovely floral aromatics of pure ripe cherry, anise, cedar, and white pepper. Savory with game and iron-rich earth, the palate remains medium-bodied, with generous raspberry fruit, refreshing orange zest, crushed roses, and dusty earth. Drink 2021-2042.
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Wine Spectator
Complex aromas and flavors of macerated cherry, raspberry, plum, earth and underbrush are backed by a dense structure of lively acidity and dusty tannins. The ripe fruit at the core plays out on the lingering finish.
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Wine & Spirits
Claudia and Silvia Cigliuti run this Neive estate, founded by their father Renato in 1964. They age this Barbaresco in large casks and used barriques, retaining the fresh rose and licorice scents that enliven the rich cherry flavors. Long and balanced, with impressive intensity, it is a wine worth tracking down.
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.