Winemaker Notes
Barbaresco Gallina is typically elegant with its refined bouquet and palate, and assertive tannins. It is the expression of a marl soil rich in fine sand. Red in colour with pale garnet tinges. Particular finesse in the bouquet, with balance and complexity, scents of ripe red fruit, spices and violets (typical of Nebbiolo). Mouth-filling tannins, excellent persistence on the palate.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Medium ruby red, the 2021 Barbaresco Gallina has wonderful energy on opening and reveals a lovely nose of bright strawberries, orange zest, fresh roses, and fresh thyme. Medium-bodied, it carries to the palate with finely coiled tannins, bright acidity, and a mouthwatering saline finish. It’s a fantastic Barbaresco that’s going to be worth holding on to. Drink 2027-2040.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
With mineral notes, flint, bright cherry, waxy lipstick, red fruits instead of dark fruits and fragrant rose, this is a multifaceted Nebbiolo. The Oddero 2021 Barbaresco Gallina remains fruit-driven and floral too, and it's graciously not weighed down by oak spice or toast. In fact, it reveals angular and focused tones throughout. It offers good complexity and tannins that need food.
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James Suckling
Pretty nose of flowers, plums, wild strawberries and citrus rind. It’s medium-bodied, floral and silky, with tight and fine-grained tannins providing an elegant structure. Drink from 2026.
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Wine Enthusiast
Aromas of just ripe cherries and wild roses mingle with sweet green herbs and fresh forest-floor aromas. On the palate, the wine is defined by its elegance and complexity. Generous wild red-berry flavors are in perfect proportion to the savory and woodsy notes that create a harmony where each flavor and element works seamlessly with the others as balanced tannins and acidity provide the key to the wine's future. Drink now–2050.
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Wine Spectator
Rich and supple in texture, this red displays cherry, raspberry, orange peel, hibiscus, wild rosemary and thyme flavors. A line of chewy tannins leaves a strong grip on the finish.
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Vinous
The 2021 Barbaresco Gallina is a gorgeous, classically built wine that is going to need at least a few years to come around, as the tannins and acids are quite prominent at this stage. Kirsch, orange peel, spice, menthol and lavender are all finely knit-together in this beautifully taut, nervy Barbaresco from Oddero.
Rating: 92+
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.