Today I tried my first ever Barbaresco wine today. It was the Aitin Serra 2009 Barbaresco – a decently middle priced wine that was above the usual $19.95 CDN LCBO average bottle but not in the $80-100 range that screams “I just bought a fine wine because the price says so.”
The first thing the wine immediately reminded me of was the few Burgundy Pinot Noirs I’ve had and some of the better Ontario Pinot Noirs. It was light-bodied, delicate in the mouth and bursting with aromas and flavors of cherries and strawberries that were amazingly fruit forward but also extremely dry. I also picked up some minty herbal flavors in there that I’ve only ever detected in Banyuls before. The tannins were soft in their grip despite the youth of the wine making it very approachable. I’m sure it will get even better with age on it. It probably won’t last the 2-3 decades
I’ve read many of your posts on Barolo and Barbaresco which seem to have a lot of fans on this board but I have to say none of them really prepared me for the pleasant surprise this was.
Pinot Noir is hailed the world over as the heartbreak grape for being most delicate red wine grape and requiring the utmost attention of vitners in both growing it and making wine out of it. I don’t understand, now that i’ve had it, how Barbaresco is not given the same attention. Is it perhaps because it is restricted to one region in Italy and not grown worldwide like Pinot Noir?
Because if we’re talking sheer quality of wine alone, Barbaresco strikes me as the equal at least and possibly even the better of Pinot Noir.
Nope Tran - Pinot Noir is the Pinot Noir of Italy. They do grow a bit of it. They also grow nice grapes like Lagrein and Teroldego, which you should try.
As far as this goes:
Pinot Noir is hailed the world over as the heartbreak grape for being most delicate red wine grape and requiring the utmost attention of vitners in both growing it and making wine out of it. I don’t understand, now that i’ve had it, how Barbaresco is not given the same attention.
I don’t think your assumptions are correct. Barbaresco IS given the same attention by people who make it and people who love it.
Second, “the most delicate red wine grape” is what people say when they compare it to Cab because for a time the Brits and the Americans saw the wine world as centering around France and more specifically around Bordeaux and Burgundy. Grapes were picked as soon as they could be vinified and of course, Burgundy is colder than Bordeaux. But those days of a binary choice are long past and if that statement was ever true, it surely isn’t now. Think of where they grow Pinot Noir - usually in places where Cab won’t really ripen well. When it’s grown in hotter places, people complain that it isn’t delicate enough.
I think it was Steve Edmund who I first heard comment that the most interesting interations of a grape are found when the grapes grows at the limits of it’s ripening regions. I think that’s a pretty good observation and in those circumstances, any grape becomes a delicate wine grape - it all depends on where you grow it and how you treat it. For example, Syrah in Austria is not like Syrah in Australia.
Anyhow, personally, I’d generally pick a decent Barbaresco over a PN.
You are probably talking about the Paitin Barbareso Serra. It is their entry level Barbaresco produced from younger vines and made to drink well at a younger age. They mostly work in a traditional style and turn out some very good wines. And at very fair prices. Recently the wines seem to have found a new level of depth and elegance. Possibly due to the addition of the consultant, Dante Scaglione, long time assistant at Giacosa. Paitin also produces two other Barbaresco, Sori Paitin and Sori Patin Vigna Vecchia.
Many people say that the two most difficult grapes to make fine wine from are Nebbiolo and Pinot Noir. And certainly if you drink enough Barolo, Barbaresco and Burgundy it is easy to see the similarities. But you can also see the differences. All three offer a thrilling experience in wine on many different levels that no other wine in the world has been able to match. Barbaresco offers a more elegant and feminine version of the Nebbiolo grape. The wines offer outstanding Value.
I agree with what Greg and Gary have already said. I particularly agree with what Gary says about Barbaresco, Barolo and Burgundy sharing certain similarities. But, at the end of the day, what makes them different is more important to me.
That said, you are not wrong in finding reference points between the right Pinot and Barbaresco. I think you have a useful starting point for understanding both of them better.
I just popped the cork on a 98 Lamarche - Vosne-Suchots and the first sip – to see if it needed decanting – was certainly akin to nebbiolo. Taught, with good tannin and acid, plus some sour cherry and a trace of caramel. If this had been poured blindly, I wouldn’t have been surprised if it prompted guesses of Barolo or Barbaresco. (In fact, now that I think of it, I think that was my guess when a friend poured this blindly for me a year or so ago.) It needs some time to relax. We’ll see if it becomes more clearly pinot like with air. (I went for a decant.)
I’m a Burg guy and most of my Piedmonts are Barbaresco but I also hunt for more delicately framed Barolos like Monprivto too. I like the anaolgy if your not talking about producers like Scavino or Clerico.
Hi Tran
I think you’ve definitely picked up on some of the features that I find interesting in Nebbiolo wines. It’s funny how Barolo and Barbaresco have over the years been regularly described as ‘full-bodied’ on restaurant and merchant lists. Yes the tannins can be firm (and these days the alc% has crept up), but the lightness/brightness of flavour (typically helped by refreshing acidity) is a far cry from what you’d normally think of as full-bodied. In maturity (and I’m English so you can classify that as ‘over-maturity’ ;¬) ), those bright/delicate aromas can become ethereal/haunting - the sort of wine where you can spend much longer sniffing than drinking. That said, not all turn out so beguiling, even those you’d really expect to, and in old age bottle variation is an issue.
The comparison is often made with Pinot Noir, and there are definitely similarities (hence the common comparison). As well as the spread of Pinot Noir around the world inspiring comparisons to it’s roots ( ) in Burgundy, Burgundy has also had significantly longer in the spotlight of ‘Fine Wine’. Some here may remember when Piemonte would be just a footnote below the traditional giants of France.
Pinot Noir, Barbaresco, and Barolo all go great with Epoisse…but I do enjoy the difference in them and age really does play an important role in each of them and defining how different they can be…as much as vineyard and producer can I guess now that I’m thinking about it.
With air the Lamarche Suchot showed more pinot fruit, and less tannin, as I expected. Still, the acidity and general tautness is akin to a nebbiolo. Certainly in the beginning it reminded me of the 98 Brovio Rocche, which I had three or four bottles of a few years back. The Vosne ultimately had less concentration than a Barolo/Barbaresco and a shorter finish because there’s markedly less tannin.
![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
and even Barolo has been compared to Pinot, bug usually as they’re older.![[oops.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/1/1f129ddad071ffe5db6c99817c3cab666035a70a.gif "oops"){kind=small}
) in Burgundy, Burgundy has also had significantly longer in the spotlight of ‘Fine Wine’. Some here may remember when Piemonte would be just a footnote below the traditional giants of France.