Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Another Barbaresco from this winery that shows such a solid core of fruit and tannins with plenty of plum, strawberry, cedar and walnut character. Some porcini mushrooms, too. It’s full-bodied, tannic and powerful at the finish. Try after 2024.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Paitin 2017 Barbaresco Serraboella Sorì Paitin shows a level of finesse and elegance that is rare to find in this hot and dry vintage. The wine delivers seamless transitions with aromas of wild fruit, ferrous earth, licorice, tar and crushed flowers. Those nuances are delivered with enormous purity and focus, rendering a super delicate and finessed expression. There is a touch of tannin tightness here, this being the only sign of the summer heat, but the wine unfolds smoothly nonetheless.
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Wine Spectator
The supple attack features strawberry and cherry flavors, offsetting a layer of dusty tannins on the back end. Accents of eucalyptus, mineral and earth weigh in as this red winds down on the compact finish. This needs time. Best from 2023 through 2040.
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.