Winemaker Notes
Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco Montefico Riserva is a ruby red color. The bouquet is spicy and intense with notes of red fruits. Full-bodied with a solid structure, intense minerality and slow-maturing tannins.
Pairs well with fresh egg pastas, risottos, white meats, red meats, venison and cheeses.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
This wine knocks it out of the park. The beautiful Produttori del Barbaresco 2019 Barbaresco Riserva Montefico delivers a lovely combination of perfectly ripened fruit, spice and etched mineral. Those qualities transfer to the palate, where the wine shows elegantly chalky tannins. It finishes with power and concentration that is attractive but never overboard. This wine stands out for its impeccable balance.
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Wine Enthusiast
Each sniff opens another door to this fragrant wine. At first, aromas of sour red berries pop out of the glass, followed by a bouquet of rose, then whole cloves and long peppercorns. Polished with cherry jam and wild herbs at its core as the tannins direct the attention to the earthy and mineral-driven finish.
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Wine Spectator
This rich red is laced with cherry, plum, earth, stone and eucalyptus flavors. Dense, assertive tannins dominate the finish for now, yet the lasting impression is ripe fruit.
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Vinous
The 2019 Barbaresco Riserva Montefico is one of the most searingly tannic wines in the range. Readers will have to be patient with the 2019, as it is going to need time. As always, Montefico is a Barbaresco built on linear intensity more than size. In 2019, the qualities are quite accented. Time in the glass opens the bouquet nicely, but the 2019 remains quite closed.
Rating: 93+ -
James Suckling
Cola, rhubarb and balsamic complexity to the violet, pomegranate and black-cherry aromas. The medium-bodied palate is firm and rustic with massive structure, though it lacks a bit of meat over the bones. Flavors of violets, cinnamon and savory dried cherries come through with air. Stern, licoricy finish.
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.