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.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
This wine sources its fruit from a 5.5-hectare vineyard on limestone clay soil. The Fontanabianca 2021 Barbaresco delivers sharp, pinpoint focus with cherry and cassis over a medium-plus mouthfeel. The fruit takes center stage, but the wine also unfolds slowly over time to showcase crushed stone, dried herbs and pressed violet.
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James Suckling
This is a bright and perfumed Barbaresco that shows potpourri, rose hips, dried strawberries and orange peel on the nose. It’s medium-bodied, zesty and vibrant, with tight-knit tannins and crunchy acidity. Try from 2026.
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Wine Enthusiast
A lively mix of candied and fresh red fruits, bay leaf, and green herbs, with a whisper of cinchona bark and blooming rose. Dried cherry leads the palate in a tangy, mouthwatering dance with a playful herbal twist. Elegant tannins frame the entire palate as notes of crushed stone and earth finish the wine. Drink 2026 - 2045.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Coming from Neive, the 2021 Barbaresco takes a medium ruby hue and reveals aromas of fresh cranberries, clove, dried orange, roses, and anise. Medium-bodied, elegant, and weightless, with fine tannins and even acidity, it’s approachable and open now and is going to show its best over the next 5-6 years. It’s a very pretty and charming wine with good value.
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.