Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Wonderful aromas of strawberries, cherries and flowers. Full body, firm, silky tannins and a tangy, fresh finish. I like the dried-berry and orange peel character to this. Needs three to four years of bottle age to soften: better in 2017.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Alberto di Gresy’s 2011 Barbaresco Martinenga hails from one of the greatest crus in Barbaresco: It opens like a wide amphitheater across a sun-drenched slope at 280 meters above sea level. Those ideal conditions have helped to shape a voluptuous and generous wine that never holds back. Its best asset is the bouquet that is complex and layered with pretty tones of dried cherry, licorice, leather and cola. The wine’s youthful berry flavors and bright acidity will flesh out with more time in the bottle. Drink: 2016-2026.
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Wine Spectator
A light-bodied, elegant style, offering pretty floral, cherry and berry fruit playing off menthol and herb notes. Firm yet balanced, with dusty tannins lining the long finish. Best from 2016 through 2024.
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.