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2005 Albino Rocca Barbaresco Vigneto Brich Ronchi

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Latest Sale Price

February 7, 2021 - $52

Estimate

RATINGS

92The Wine Advocate

The wine flows from the glass with layers of dark fruit, sweet French oak, minerals, menthol and licorice. This big, strapping wine could use another year or two in bottle to come together, but its ample potential is evident today.

92Wine Spectator

Shows loads of strawberry jam on the nose. Full-bodied, with chewy tannins and lots of ripe fruit and oak. Slightly mouthpuckering.

91-93Stephen Tanzer

Black cherry, licorice, menthol and a whiff of sweet oak on the nose. Rich, broad and minerally, with lovely sweetness but also a more serious menthol aspect to the spicy black fruit flavors. Quite full in the mouth...

REGION

Italy, Piedmont, Barbaresco

Barbaresco is one of the two most acclaimed DOCGs in Piedmont, the other being Barolo. Located just a few miles north of Barolo, Barbaresco is a small town of fewer than 700 people and 1,680 vineyard acres, making it less than half the size of the Barolo DOCG. The other communes in this DOCG of rolling hills are Neive and Treiso. As in Barolo, the DOCG requires that Barbaresco DOCG wines be 100% Nebbiolo, a grape thought of as the Pinot Noir of Italy. Records show that Nebbiolo was grown in the Piedmont as early as the 14th century, and despite being somewhat finicky – it is late to ripen and easily damaged by adverse weather --- Nebbiolo makes highly aromatic and powerful red wines. Until the mid-19th century Nebbiolos of Piedmont were vinified as sweet wines, though that ended in the late 19th century when a French oenologist was invited to Piedmont to show producers how to make dry reds. By the late 20th century respected producers were making outstanding Nebbiolos, as well as Nebbiolo blends that do not carry the DOCG label. Barbaresco was made a DOC in 1966 and upgraded to a DCOG in 1980. DOCG Barbaresco must be aged a minimum of two years, with a minimum of one year in wood. Barbarescos are regarded as more subtle and refined than Barolos, and more approachable when young.

TYPE

Red Wine, Nebbiolo, D.O.C.G.

This red grape is most often associated with Piedmont, where it becomes DOCG Barolo and Barbaresco, among others. Its name comes from Italian for “fog,” which descends over the region at harvest. The fruit also gains a foggy white veil when mature.