Given we’ve had my cousin and his family over here this week, I thought 1 or 2 bottles just wouldn’t be enough, so we ended up plumping for 4 different Barbarescos. 2 of them were co-op wines, 1 from a cantina in Neive, and 1 from Gigi Bianco’s in Barbaresco that we picked up during the visit.
We started with one we bought (€12) directly from the co-op down the road from the house. A sort of non-descript, but “does a job” wine, from 2011. The ruby red wine had the tell tale Barbaresco garnet colour round the sides, but that’s maybe where it started to get a bit tough. I was really struggling to smell anything. I got a bit of prune and raisin, but the overall smell was soil. The taste was very peppery, but the high acidity you get from Nebbiolo made it more than drinkable despite pretty high tannins in the young wine. 9/20
Next up was a co-op wine we bought (€15) in from the local supermarket, another 2011. A deeper colour and less garnet tinge to it, it struggled for the flavour, and the tannins were sucking the life out my mouth. It needed food with it to help out the only plus point, which was the high acidity. 7/20
Next was the 2008 Serragrilli from Neive (€14). I know the guys who make this one pretty well and we always come back for more of this. It’s still a bit young, but the deep ruby red colour and the earthy smells of bramble and cherry made you want to swig it down. On the taste, there was balanced tannin and acidity and peppery tastes on the tongue. The finish was nice and long and full of truffle. Loved it. 15/20
Finally was Gigi Bianco’s Ovello from 2009 (€25). We shouldn’t have drunk this. I never used to be able to understand people who bought wine to age it and drink it in 10 years time, but with these kinds of wines you really should. But sod it, we cracked it open anyway. It was great. Truffle, cherry, bramble, a hint of cinnamon maybe in there too. Balanced peppery finish that went on and on and on. And to think, it’ll just get better! 17/20
Good night had by all, and the salami that we had with it was top drawer. Although the dog managed to pinch most of it when we weren’t looking!
Cheers
Other Posts In #NWTW Week 33
#NWTW Week 33: ON TOUR – Barbaresco from Italy
#NWTW Week 33: ON TOUR – Nebbiolo
#NWTW Week 32: ON TOUR – Calling Your Wine “Barbaresco”
Photos
1 – The wines!
2 – Official tasting get up
3 – My ex-army cousin, thought he’d be the best one to trust with the knife!
