Winemaker Notes
This wine is ruby red and has hints of ripe raspberry, gardenia and blackcurrant aromas. On the palate it has a full-flavored start, with mineral notes and a good presence of soft tannins. The finish is long and persistent.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Showing a medium-dark ruby color, the La Spinetta 2021 Barbaresco Gallina Vürsù has a pretty bouquet with aromas of fresh raspberry, tar and dark licorice. The wine initially offers pretty good definition and precision, but it grows even more linear and vertical as it opens in the glass. I would recommend a few more years of cellar age to let the oak and the fruit settle.
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Vinous
The 2021 Barbaresco Vigneto Gallina is bold, heady and eusive. A rush of dark fruit, leather, spice, menthol, licorice and mocha builds eortlessly. The Gallina oers tons of immediacy.
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Wine Spectator
This red starts out with balsamic aromas of eucalyptus, juniper, sage and broom, giving way to flavors of cherry, black currant, pomegranate and earth. Muscular, with beefy tannins and a long, savory finish.
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.