Early reports seem very promising. Anyone have any inside information on 2011 Barbaresco?
Dear lord…please no. I need a few years to recover from 2010 Burgs & 2010 Barolo
I don’t think so. At least at this stage. It is far too early to make the final call. I am not even sure it is going to be better than 2010.The vintage for 2010 Barolo was better than Barbaresco, but 2010 was still a great vintage in Barbaresco. And it was much closer than most people realize. Lots of really amazing wines and with slightly lower prices and less attention it sounds like a good buying opportunity to me.
Michael, Aldo Vacca said on his recent visit for Produttori anyway 2011 was a great Barbaresco vintage in his opinion.
He also conceded that in his view 2010 was better in Barolo than Barbaresco (of course Produttori did not do its Reservas in 2010).
Yes.
I agree with Gary on this one. No question that 2011 has promise in Barbaresco, but the jury is still out on just how good the vintage will be across the board. In the meantime, many of the 2010s at the lower end of the price range, like Castello di Neive, are delicious. “Better” in Barolo does not necessarily mean “not so great” in Barbaresco, and remember, the fact of no Produttori Riservas is not a reliable indication of vintage quality, because of the Produttori all-or-nobody philosophy. There have sometimes been no Riservas in good years, and a full sets in less than stellar years. Lastly, the Produttori wines are consistently good to very good and attractively priced, but never among the top wines of Barbaresco, which must also be factored into the overall vintage quality equation…
Does anyone concur that the end of season heat was less of an issue in Barbaresco than it was in Barolo?
It’s very good but a there are several reasons it doesn’t equal 2010 in Barolo.
end of season warmth would have been a bigger issue in Barbaresco if anything, since it would have come near to or at harvest, but 2011 finished with good weather, having suffered from high temps through the summer.
Interesting as I’ve read just the opposite: That there was a late season heat spike in 2011 and that Barbaresco being harvested a bit earlier than Barolo, was less negatively impacted.
Well I don’t know abut that. August was typically hot and in the middle of September there was a week in the high 80s and lots of enduring daytimes highs near 80 into the first week of October, I think most Barbaresco was harvested roughly from the 25th of September through the 10th of October on. I wouldn’t call those heat spikes, I’d call that weather, warm weather but not totally atypical.
It was a warm vintage but what made the wine so distinctive was the nigh time lows. Even through the hotest parts of the summer and the warm autumn days overnight highs were almost always below 70 degrees.
There was generally plenty of water reserves and occasional wel timed rainfalls through the late summer so stress was not a huge issue with the vintage, and if it were I think the vines in Barolo, with an additional two weeks or more to harvest, had more time to recover.
The wines are terrific from both appellations, I’m looking forward to trying them again.
A few points about why I don’t think 11 in Barbaresco will be like 10 was in Barolo.
Quantities are not down.
It’s not a cool vintage and the critics are all over cool=better these days.
Since it’s not a cool vintage, comparisons to know great vintages are difficult to make.
Interest in Barbaresco is not nearly as acute as it is in Barolo.
Now that Giacosa is not to his lofty standards, which producers are the ones to watch besides the Produttori which are well priced.
Some good ones from to choose:
1 Castello di Neive
2 Paitin
3 Giuseppe Cortese
4 Cantina del Pino
5 Sottimano
Pretty much. Maybe even better for Barbera.
Other Barbaresco producers worth looking out for include Roagna, Punset, Rizzi, De Forville, la Spinona, Castello di Verduno, and Cascina delle Rose, which has been a recent favorite of mine.
2011 was indeed a terrific Barbera vintage.
I have tried few vintages of Roagna - 2001, 2003, 2004 and 2005. Some have been bit dirty/bretty and others were clean and very nice. Still have few bottles of his Asili and Montefico in the cellar. His prices have gone up a bit.
I will try and get my hands on Verduno.
Roagna works in a very old world style and you will find quite a bit of that in the wines.
“a bit”? Here they increased by at least 30% from one year to the next.
Bringing this back up. Anyone know when the 2011 Barbaresco will start being available? Thanks.
As soon as they move enough 2010. If there is plenty of 2010, there will be no rush to the 2011s. Some Nebbiolo has moved from 2011 to 2012. And I have one 2013 to look at. So I would guess the 2011s will start to arrive in 2-3 months. With the bulk of them being in toward the end of summer/start of fall. As will the 2011 Barolos.
Are you asking about 2011 Barbaresco in general? I received my Sottimano Cotta and Pajore in October and expect the late-release Curra in a few months. I also know the Castello di Neive Barbaresco is on the shelf in quantity here (not Santo Stefano).
They’re starting to trickle through, and our market is generally quite slow for that. Admittedly, I did get the Sottimano via the importer here.