Winemaker Notes
The Sorì Paitin belongs to the Pasquero-Elia heirs since 1796. It is the Serraboella warmest slope, graced with unique soils that since ages is planted with Nebbiolo. Sorì means the first place where the snow melts with the first winter sun rays. Ancient rule to select the best plots for Nebbiolo. Serraboella is the most famous cru in the Southern Neive. A long hill exposed to West that gently bends towards South getting steeper. On this very side: the steepest and the warmest, the Barbaresco has a unique expression. Power, volume are laced by a elegant texture.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
A mix of plum, cherry, juniper, eucalyptus and earth flavors highlights this dense red, which borders on powerful, yet with a supple texture and vibrant acidity keeping everything well-defined and driving the extensive finish. Beautifully balanced and complex.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Paitin 2021 Barbaresco Serraboella has cherry and bright fruit at the top, with spiced cherry, cooked cranberry and orange peel with clove. There is a very fresh botanical feel to this wine with spice and earth, and some distant dried flowers as well. It has a low-key and elegant mouthfeel that stays with you over the long haul.
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Jeb Dunnuck
A richer ruby in color, the 2021 Barbaresco Sori Paitin Serraboella has a great nose, with ripe and detailed aromas of fresh red cherries, wet stones, anise, dried roses, and fresh rosemary. The palate offers fantastic energy, with good richness of concentration, and it’s very well-balanced, with ripe tannins, salty earth, ripe but bright acidity, and a long finish. It is a very well-done wine from Paitin to drink 2026-2040.
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Vinous
The 2021 Barbaresco Sori Paitin is a complex, dynamic wine that captures this site's nuances. Scorched earth, spice, leather, tobacco, incense and dried herbs all soar out of the glass. Rating: 94+
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Wine Enthusiast
Like meeting a new friend who feels instantly familiar, this wine is steadfast and sturdy, promising companionship for years to come. Tightly wound rose buds and preserved cherries waft from the glass, chased by notes of bay leaf, thyme, and sage. Broad and powerful, yet elegant, the wine wields its strength with grace. Flavors of licorice root, fennel, and whole clove work their magic across the palate in this very pretty Barbaresco. Drink from 2027 onward.
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.