Winemaker Notes
Elegant and harmonious nose. Flavors of plum and mushroom, with hints of cherry skin. Full-bodied and dry with silky tannins and a fresh finish.
Pair with roasted game and cheese.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Wild aromas of dried meat and ripe berries with plum and smoke undertones. It’s full-bodied with ripe, chewy tannins and a long, very intense finish. Needs three or four years to soften, but impressive. Better after 2023.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Fontanabianca 2017 Barbaresco delivers terrific results at an approachable price. This production of 25,000 bottles offers a full bouquet of Nebbiolo typicity with the extra heft and exuberance of this warm vintage. The bouquet delivers all the headline aromas you might expect, with wild cherry, dried blueberry, spice, licorice and candied orange peel. You get silky but lasting tannins with polished fruit on the close. This wine gets better with each vintage I taste.
Rating: 93+ -
Wine Enthusiast
Ripe dark-skinned berry, pressed rose, new leather and eucalyptus aromas form the nose. Chewy and full of flavor, the taut palate shows concentrated black raspberry, mature Morello cherry and baking spice framed in fine-grained tannins. Drink 2021–2027.
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.