Winemaker Notes
Pairs well with fresh egg pastas, risottos, whiite meats, red meats, venison and cheeses.
Professional Ratings
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Wine & Spirits
Scents of roses, cherries and mint give this wine a lifted feeling that follows through with flavors of fleshy red berries and buoyant acidity. The Pajè cru enjoys cooling breezes from the Tanaro River, keeping the fruit fresh and contributing to this wine’s brisk acidity and aromatic elegance. Its firm texture and bright flavors hold as it gains notes of black tea and fennel, lending depth as the wine coasts to a long and lively finish.
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Wine Spectator
Broad and savory, boasting cherry, leather, tobacco, wild thyme and eucalyptus notes. A sweet fruit essence offsets the dense tannins. The finish stretches out. Best from 2018 through 2032.
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Wine Enthusiast
Bold and full bodied, this opens with rather subtle aromas of chopped herb, dark-skinned berry and a whiff of star anise. The ripe palate is more expressive, doling out black raspberry, juicy morello cherry and baking spice set against a backbone of noble tannins.
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James Suckling
You can smell the ripe grapes here. Undertones of cedar and sweet tobacco. Full body, velvety and soft tannins and a flavorful 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.