Winemaker Notes
Pairs well with fresh egg pastas, risottos, white meats, red meats venison and old cheese.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Enticing scents of wild berry, rose, baking spice and balsamic aromas come together in the glass. Juicy and full-bodied, the flavorsome palate shows succulent Morello cherry, cranberry, licorice and ground white pepper alongside a backbone of vibrant acidity and firm, polished tannins. It's already exceptional but will benefit with more aging. Drink 2020–2038.
Cellar Selection -
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The delightful 2013 Barbaresco Riserva Rio Sordo is fourth on a scale of nine wines in terms of growing structure and power. This is the middle-point wine. You will immediately notice that the texture of this single-vineyard expression is increasingly thicker and pastier. The bouquet delivers opulent tones of blackberry and ripe cherry in thick and succulent waves. Yet, like the Pora, Pajè and Ovello expressions, the Barbaresco Riserva Rio Sordo is also a more accessible wine. You can save it for longer cellar aging, but you could also opt to serve it in the near or medium term. It offers both immediate pleasure and long-term potential.
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Wine Spectator
This is supple and full of cherry and berry flavors, focused by vibrant acidity. Firm tannins follow up, yet this remains elegant and really stretches out on the long aftertaste. Best from 2023 through 2036.
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.