Wine & Spirits - December 2019 - 78

YEAR'S BEST BAROLO & BARBARESCO
96 | Marchesi di Gresy

$130

2014 Barbaresco Riserva Camp Gros Martinenga ^ This is immediately mouthwatering,
an electric acidity driving through its crunchy
red-berry flavor. It feels graceful and refined,
with scents of rose, smoke, warm spice and
soft herbs that add depth and richness to the
bright fruit tones. § Dalla Terra, Napa, CA
274209

96 | Sottimano

273926

90 | Réva

$90

2015 Barolo Ravera ^ Sourced from Novello's
Ravera cru, this is light for the warm, dry
2015 vintage, and immediately appealing in
its rose-scented cherry flavors. It's ready to
enjoy now, and a versatile bottle at the dinner table. § Artisanal Cellars, NY
273682

90 | Giovanni Rosso

$45

90 | Giovanni Rosso

$95

2014 Barolo (Best Buy) ^ This wine shows
initial developed notes of damp leaves and
leathery tannins that, with exposure to air,
flesh out to reveal juicy black cherry flavors
brightened by a spray of orange peel and
brisk acidity. § Vias Imports, NY
273683
2014 Barolo Cerretta ^ Flavors of brandied
cherry and apple skin take on tones of pipe
tobacco and earth as this wine sits in the
glass. The brusque tannins and earthy flavors would match well with hearty braised
meats or a mushroom ragù. § Vias Imports, NY
273906

90 | Virna

$42

2015 Barolo Noi (Best Buy) ^ This wine's fruit
tones of cherry and plum border on jammy,
perhaps the result of the hot and dry 2015
growing season. It's a robust Barolo, with
spicy, tarry notes and meaty tannins that
would match with a well-marbled ribeye. §
Shiverick Imports, Los Angeles, CA

$83

2016 Barbaresco Cottà ^ This wine leads an
impressive set of Barbaresco releases from
Sottimano. It comes from a well-exposed,
southwest-facing plot in Cottà, a cru in Neive
that borders the Barbaresco township, where
Andrea Sottimano and his father, Rino, farm
vines that are 40 to 60 years old. Fermented
with ambient yeasts and aged in barriques
(15 percent new), the 2016 shows Neive's
power in its ample tannins and taut acidity.
That structure frames its vibrant flavors, the
notes of sour cherry and plum laced with lavender, mint and dark spices. It's tight and
precise, with a long, energetic finish. § Skurnik
Wines & Spirits, NY
273686

95 | Produttori del
Barbaresco

$45

2016 Barbaresco (Best Buy) ^ This is Produttori del Barbaresco's flagship wine, produced
with fruit selected from their 54 growers,
who collectively farm some 250 acres of
vines, and it is a stunner in the 2016 vintage.
It's ripe and precise, the vibrant red fruit
lifted by fresh floral scents and subtle spice.
The tannins envelop that fruit like a soft
leather glove, as brisk acidity propels the flavors toward a vertical finish. There's no better bargain in Barbaresco, and with 22,000
cases produced, this should be on every serious Italian wine list and in every nebbiolo
lover's cellar. § Vias Imports, NY

BA RBA RE S C O
274672

96 | Gaja

78

WINE & SPIRITS

DECEMBER 2019

95 | Marchesi di Gresy

$65

95 | Marchesi di Gresy

$92

2016 Barbaresco Martinenga ^ This is hightoned and floral, its tangy red berry flavors
gracefully framed by precise, fine-grained
tannins. The wine rested for its first year in
French oak barriques followed by another
year in large Slavonian casks, gaining notes
of warm spice and toasted nuts that add
depth to the bright fruit tones. This vibrant
wine has a long life ahead of it yet is hard to
resist now. § Dalla Terra, Napa, CA
274344
2015 Barbaresco Gaiun Martinenga ^ Fruit
for Gaiun comes from a plot of vines on the
western end of the Martinenga cru. In the
warm and dry 2015 vintage, those vines
produced a rich and expressive Barbaresco,
unfolding with flavors of ripe cherry and
baked plum, thyme and fennel. Twenty-eight
months in French oak barriques enriched the
wine with notes of anise and a lush texture. §
Dalla Terra, Napa, CA
274211

95 | Sottimano

$108

95 | Sottimano

$83

94 | Piero Busso

$95

2014 Barbaresco Currà ^ This comes from
a plot of vines up to 70 years old in Neive's
Currà cru. It produces a formidably tannic
wine, which the Sottimanos hold in bottle
a year longer than their other Barbarescos.
Yet the tannins in the 2014 remain forceful, underlining the wine's dark-cherry flavors like cool, polished metal. Woodsy tones
emerge as the wine is exposed to air, the wine
taking on a meaty aspect as it gains notes
of cedar, spice and tobacco. Although it's
already complex and layered, this wine will
benefit from another five years of cellaring. §
Skurnik Wines & Spirits, NY
274210
2016 Barbaresco Fausoni ^ From 45-year-old
vines rooted in sandy clay soils in the Fausoni
cru, this is a high-toned, floral 2016. Scents of
mint, thyme and violet surge from the glass,
previewing brisk flavors of red cherry and
orange peel woven together by fine, sandpapery tannins. § Skurnik Wines & Spirits, NY
274297

$250

2016 Barbaresco ^ The Gaja family calls 2016
one of the best vintages they have ever experienced, with a long, slow ripening period
without heat stress or disease pressure. That
balance comes through in this suave, elegant
Barbaresco. It smells of soft rose petals and
tastes of juicy cherries and spiced raspberries, the flavors gliding along smooth, ripe
tannins. With air, the wine picks up energy
and depth, moving into a long, vibrant finish. §
Terlato Wines Int'l, Lake Bluff, IL
274345

granate. Brisk acidity and fine, chalky tannins frame the flavors as they unfold in layers
of licorice, tobacco and a hint of white chocolate. § Empson USA, Alexandria, VA
274343

273915

95 | Ca'Rome' di
Romano Marengo

$113

2016 Barbaresco Rio Sordo ^ Scents of whole
roses (stem, leaf and petal) provide an intoxicating introduction to this wine's high-toned
flavors of red cherry, sour plum and pome-

2014 Barbaresco Albesani Vigna Borgese ^
Pierguido Busso took over winemaking at
this estate in 2010; he now farms 25 acres
with his parents, Lucia and Piero, and his sister, Emanuela. Their vines in Vigna Borgese,
a monopole in the Albesani cru, surround the
https://www.revamonforte.it/en/winery/wines/ https://www.empsonusa.com/portfolio/ca-rome/
Wine & Spirits - December 2019

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