Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
With fruit from a celebrated site in the village of Neive with its rolling hills and wide panoramas, this is a lean and shiny ruby-colored wine. The Paitin 2020 Barbaresco Serraboella is ethereal and luminous in appearance; however, the aromas offer strength and a bold character. There is bright berry fruit, but the bigger takeaways are savory nuances of licorice, iris root and even an exotic note of teakwood or mahogany. This is an impeccably elegant wine with 10,000 bottles made. It stands out in this flight.
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James Suckling
Deep and aromatic on the nose with ripe cherries, ground spices, aged citrus peel and moist bark. Full with a dense and compact tannin structure, yet very fine, almost silky, with impressive energy. Dynamic. Solid and focused.
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Wine Spectator
A firmly structured red, with prevailing graphite, rose petal and eucalyptus flavors shaded by earth and tobacco. A bit burly now, with a muscular structure that bodes well for future development. Best from 2027 through 2043. 833 cases made.
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.