Winemaker Notes
Full body vintage with ripe red fruit, solid tannic structure, good drinkability solid structure, intense minerality, spicy fruit, slow maturing tannins.
Professional Ratings
-
Wine Enthusiast
Balsamic aromas of camphor and new leather mingle with scorched earth and mature black-skinned berry on this full-bodied red. Mirroring the nose, the enveloping palate delivers ripe Marasca cherry, black raspberry and licorice alongside tightly knit, fine-grained tannins before a hazelnut close. Drink 2022–2030.
Cellar Selection -
Decanter
Montefico lies immediately to the south of Ovello and just north of Montestefano. Produttori's first single-vineyard release from this site was in 1970. In 2015, it seems to combine the tightness of Asili with the fragrant, red-fruited beauty of Muncagota. There's some earthy complexity and black pepper spice, accompanied by gentle but purposeful acidity.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Produttori del Barbaresco 2015 Barbaresco Riserva Montefico boasts a solid center of gravity with dark fruit, plum, spice and spent embers. Everything about this wine is sultry, velvety and succulent. It goes to follow that the wine's structure is more pronounced, contoured and shapely. This Riserva delivers more sheer fruit weight (in the context of the always elegant Nebbiolo grape) that is carried with grace and poise throughout.
-
Wine Spectator
Savory notes of salty licorice and eucalyptus combine with cherry, plum and tar flavors in this beefy red, which is broad, maintaining a sense of freshness, with ripe tannins that are well-integrated and balanced. The savory note echoes on the finish. Best from 2023 through 2045.
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.