“The 2007 Barbareschi possess dazzling aromatics, silky tannins and generous fruit…”—The Wine Advocate
In a conversation about Italian wines recently we realized that our retail team thinks very much of the same mind. (We do, granted, spend a lot of time together.) When dining out we discovered that of all the fine wines from Italy, we seek out not Barolo or a fancy bottle from Bolgeri, but choose the best Barbaresco on the wine list.
The reasoning is rather simple. Barbaresco should never be a muscular wine; there’s a delicate elegance to the fruit and spice of Nebbiolo that we find lusciously approachable and more than food-friendly. And too as so many Italian winemakers (especially in Piedmont) have caught the “new wood” bug, whether because of lazy fashion or enologist pressures, we’ve had bottle after bottle of overly wooded Barolo that in the end has made us throw up our hands in frustration.
Nebbiolo is delicate yet glorious when it is tended properly, but the heavy-handed use of new barrels in the aging process is simply an affront to this gorgeous grape.
And what’s more, Barbaresco still is one of the better values around—while Barolo may have more “bling” factor, Barbaresco is simply beautiful and for us, much more rewarding.
The bottom line is this 2007 is one of our favorite Barbaresco wines in nearly a decade, because of its supple elegance, captured because of the savvy winemaking behind the bottle. Giancarlo realized that 2007 was going to be a luscious vintage full of ripe, pure and balanced fruit, so why beat such beauty with a wooden 2x4?
We couldn’t be happier, and are totally convinced you will be too. (So much so that we pretty much purchased all of Giancarlo’s production in 2007, which is why the price for this peerless Barbaresco is so wonderfully low.)