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
The 2022 Barbaresco Gallina is medium ruby-colored and leads with an elegant spice and fruit profile of dried currants, spice, cranberries, clove, and dried earth. The palate is approachable and refined, with a balanced and even ripeness, fine tannins, and a gentle touch of mineral texture on the finish. It’s a more immediate wine in this vintage, although it retains very nice freshness and refinement. I expect it to show its best over the coming 10-12 years.
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James Suckling
An intensely fruity and floral Barbaresco that’s bright and polished, with notes of red cherries, blood oranges, yellow stone fruit and licorice. Light- to medium-bodied with lightly framed tannins, refreshing acidity and a good finish.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Not especially intense in terms of its aromas, the Oddero 2022 Barbaresco Gallina opts for softness and finesse instead. The wine opens quickly and continues to show pretty tones of dried fruit, crushed stone and blue flower. The Gallina manages a point of crystalline sharpness and brightness that is not common to wines in this hot and dry vintage. It ages in large French foudre for 19 months.
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.