Winemaker Notes
Full body vintage with ripe fruity aromas, balanced tannins and elegant finish. Full bodied wines with intense red fruit matched by youthful tannins and elegant finish.
Pair with fresh egg pasta dishes, risotto, white and red meat, game and venison.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A tight and pretty Barbaresco with a solid depth of fruit that shows ripe strawberry and terracotta character. Tannins spread across the palate in a chunky way like thick velvet. Juicy and thick at the end.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
One of the bigger productions (with 17,744 bottles) in the Produttori del Barbaresco's portfolio is the 2017 Barbaresco Riserva Ovello. All of the Riservas in this vintage are characterized by especially exuberant and bold aromas, and this bottle is a prime example. Cassis, wild cherry, tobacco, rusty nail and licorice build intensity. The wine is tapered and silky in texture, but it also offers a good amount of power (and 15% alcohol) to carry it through the aging process. Best After 2024.
Rating: 94+
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Vinous
The 2017 Barbaresco Riserva Ovello is a heady, explosive wine. I don't think I have ever tasted an Ovello from the Produttori with this much heft. The strong mineral and saline accents typical of this site are present, but they are matched pound for pound by notable mid-palate richness and intensity in its fruit. The 2017 is a brooding powerhouse that needs time to unwind.
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Wine Spectator
Taut and sinewy, boasting cherry, black currant, grass, iron and tar notes. Powerful tannins drive the finish, which is compact for now. In the end, this is lightly astringent, but has plenty of drive and should find equilibrium with time. Best from 2026 through 2043.
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.