Pio Cesare has been making wine in Alba since 1881, and Barbaresco is the other great Nebbiolo of the Langhe, from the hills just northeast of Barolo. The 2017 vintage was a warm, dry year across Piedmont, which tends to give wines of concentration and firm structure rather than delicacy.
- Nebbiolo, the grape of both Barolo and Barbaresco.
- Barbaresco, Piedmont, northern Italy.
- 2017, a warm and dry vintage in the Langhe.
- Dry, full-bodied, high in tannin and acidity.
- 14.5% alcohol, 750ml.
How it is made
Barbaresco DOCG rules are strict: the wine must be made entirely from Nebbiolo, grown on the hills around the villages of Barbaresco, Neive and Treiso, and aged for a minimum of two years before release, with at least nine of those months in wood. The grape itself is thin-skinned and late-ripening, which is why it holds onto so much perfume and tannin.
How it tastes
Red cherry and tar lead, with rose petal and dried herbs behind them. The tannins are firm and grippy, the acidity high, and the fruit ripe enough to carry both. It is a wine that shows more with air in the glass than it does on the first pour.
Good to know
Barbaresco and Barolo are the same grape, grown eleven miles apart. Barolo sits on more limestone and ages longer by law; Barbaresco is a touch lighter in body and often softer in youth, though the difference between the two zones has narrowed as the climate has warmed.
Contains alcohol.
