Winemaker Notes
This is a great wine for roasts, large game such as wild boar and venison and game birds such as pheasant, quail andpartridge.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
A lovely medley of iris, violet, mature berry and cake spice aromas emerge on this polished, structured wine. The elegant palate doles out juicy Morello cherry, black raspberry, white pepper, chopped herb and a licorice note while firm, fine-grained tannins provide the framework. It's still tightly wound and needs time to fully develop. Drink 2018–2027.
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James Suckling
Aromas of dark fruits, walnuts and hints of brunt orange peel. Full body with a solid core of ripe fruit but firm and racy. Bright acidity. Drink now.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
The 2012 Michele Chiarlo Reyna Barbaresco is generous and nicely textured, showing an almost new world accent of bright and well-ripened red fruit in the aroma, the wine settles into an attractive firmness on the palate that lasts well into its long finish. Drinks nicely now. (Tasted: September 12, 2016, San Francisco, CA)
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.