Winemaker Notes
Ruby red colored. The nose is intense and elegant. The palate is full in the mouth, well balanced and has well integrated tannins.
Pair this wine alongside your favorite game or red meat dishes.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
Spicy and inviting, featuring a beam of pure cherry, leather, licorice and tar flavors, shaded by vanilla and toasty oak. Firm, courtesy of the wood, with a touch of dryness on the finish. Bright acidity keeps this vibrant and long. Be patient. Best from 2022 through 2035.
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James Suckling
Dried cranberries, dried strawberries, cherry tart and orange peel. Chewy and fruit-driven, but shows form and composure within the cherry-laden center palate. Drink from 2023.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Moccagatta 2016 Barbaresco shows terrific balance and a very generous disposition that makes a great first impression. This is a steady and balanced wine, with a silky approach and long flavors of wild berry, spice, tobacco and licorice. Try this Barbaresco with typical Piedmontese carne cruda, or raw meat.
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.