Winemaker Notes
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
The 2011 Barbaresco Riserva Montestefano is the biggest of the bunch. This wine delivers a lasting sense of structure and intensity that is especially apparent as this Barbaresco hits the palate. The bouquet exhibits signs of ripe fruit with soft layers of blackberry preserves and cherry liqueur. The wine's tannic structure is solid and firmly stitched together, yet this wine is slightly softer and perhaps sweeter than the Riserva Muncagota, for example. This is yet another wine destined for long bottle-aging.
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Wine Enthusiast
Ripe and structured, this full-bodied red opens with alluring scents of star anise, dark-skinned berry, underbrush, leather and a balsamic note. On the juicy palate, menthol, licorice and baking spice accent a core of black cherry. Noble tannins provide the framework. Drink 2018–2023. #86 Wine Enthusiast Top 100 of 2016
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Wine & Spirits
This wine seems subdued at first, with a meaty density and powerful, unyielding tannins. After a few hours in the glass, flavors of dark plum and black cherry emerge, gaining momentum as the wine picks up notes of thyme, fennel and black spice. The Montestefano cru’s south-facing slope and the high concentration of calcium in its soils contribute to the wine’s firm concentration, making it a Barbaresco to hide away for a few years while the tannins soften and the complex herbal and spice flavors come to the fore.
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Wine Spectator
Lean, intense and racy, this exudes cherry, leather, spice and underbrush aromas and flavors. Dense, beefy tannins shore up the finish, which remains minerally, long and complex. Shows potential but needs time.
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James Suckling
Incredibly perfumed and floral with dark-berry character. Medium body, very fine tannins and a beautiful berry and cherry character. Drink or hold.
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.