Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Extremely perfumed with strawberry and floral character. Rose petals, tar and mushrooms. Medium to full body, super firm and refined tannins and a long and succulent finish. The tannin quality is really superb. Great finesse and purity. Perfect follow-up to the excellent 2012. Drink in 2020 but a joy to taste now.
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Wine Spectator
Spicy, warm and dense, with a firm structure lending austerity. Cherry, strawberry, tobacco and earth notes join the spice as this stays tight and vibrant on the finish Best from 2019 through 2032.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2012 Barbaresco Il Bricco offers good structure and pretty aromatic layering. Having said that, this vintage does not seem to exhibit the same depth nor the sheer intensity of past vintages. The wine offers distinct, oak-driven notes of cinnamon and tobacco, and these tones will require more time to integrate and soften. Dark fruit and dried cherries remain at its core. The mouthfeel is shapely and generous.
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.