Making Sense of Wine’s Tween Years
Few Wines are Truly Traditional or Modern
Palate Press Wine of the Week: 2006 Produttori del Barbaresco
Co-ops are usually the volume-first, quality-second institutions of the wine world. Not so with Produttori del Barbaresco, a group of 19 producers in the Barbaresco appellation who work together to produce some of the best wines in all of Piedmont, and at remarkably reasonable prices. Italian wine expert Charles Scicolone, in an interview I had the chance of doing with him last year, told me he considered Produttori as the best Barbaresco producer, bar none, and after tasting a few of their bottlings, I tend to agree. The 2006 “regular” Barbaresco (as opposed to their single vineyard bottlings), is clearly built for the long run, with fine but significant tannins, loads of great tart cherry and tobacco leaf aromas, a fine acidity and a terrific, clean, precise finish. The color is the clear garnet of traditional nebbiolo, free of oak (why would that grape need it?), fine and well-defined. Buy every bottle you find and drink them slowly over the next twenty years. Also look for their Langhe Nebbiolo, a simpler, fun expression of nebbiolo that is a real deal at less than $20 CDN. Highly recommended.
2006 Produttori del Barbaresco
Co-ops are usually the volume-first, quality-second institutions of the wine world. Not so with Produttori del Barbaresco, a group of 19 producers in the Barbaresco appellation who work together to produce some of the best wines in all of Piedmont, and at remarkably reasonable prices. Italian wine expert Charles Scicolone, in an interview I had the chance of doing with him last year, told me he considered Produttori as the best Barbaresco producer, bar none, and after tasting a few of their bottlings, I tend to agree. The 2006 “regular” Barbaresco (as opposed to their single vineyard bottlings), is clearly built for the long run, with fine but significant tannins, loads of great tart cherry and tobacco leaf aromas, a fine acidity and a terrific, clean, precise finish. The color is the clear garnet of traditional nebbiolo, free of oak (why would that grape need it?), fine and well-defined. Buy every bottle you find and drink them slowly over the next twenty years. Also look for their Langhe Nebbiolo, a simpler, fun expression of nebbiolo that is a real deal at less than $20 CDN. Highly recommended.
Unearthing A New Group of Wineries in Piedmont
Driving around the enigmatic, fog-shrouded Piedmont region of Italy, I saw steep vineyards that fall away from the winding, mountain roads, and medieval castles looming out of the haze on every other hilltop. I recalled the great Barolo and Barbaresco wines from this region are made from the nebbiolo grape—and nebbia is the Italian word for fog. Why was I wending my way through this misty part of northern Italy? To learn about wine and terroir—and sales, too.
Three ‘Second Cities’ Host Dinners with Iconic Italian Winemakers
"Second city" tours and "unprecedented access" are the keys and keywords employed by high-profile Italian winemakers to meet the challenges of a tough market.
Gaja, the Man Behind the Wine
The sign outside the entrance to the winery of Angelo Gaja, in the Piedmontese village of Barbaresco, says volumes in little: Gaja—four letters on a square plaque, gray on gray, like a cornerstone on a civic monument.
2000 Moccagatta Barbaresco Basarin
Long, dense, and generally not my style of Nebbiolo... but this wine turns the trick of amping up without losing the varietal character. A nice current of iron flows through to make sure the sweet fruit doesn't become cloying. It gets pretty oaky without being a jerk about it. Beautiful with butternut squash / beef stew.
2000 Bruno Rocca Barbaresco Rabajà
Hedonistic but hardly recognizable as Nebbiolo. The nose evokes some of the hot vintages in the southern Rhone, with fig cake and jam. Dense, with rich and chocolate-covered fruit. The finish is halted by a wall of drying tannins that clearly need to settle in. Needs time, and it needs a consumer who doesn't care too much for a wine's sense of place. Just please me, baby!