My Barbaresco report
Posted on 20 December 2013
My 2013 Barbaresco report is now published.
It is to my knowledge (correct me) the largest publication in English on one of Italy’s leading wines. I tasted and rated nearly 150 wines, primarily from the very good 2010 vintage, as well as some older Riservas. 75 wines scoring 90/100 and above are listed with full tasting notes and comments.
Click on the image to download the report.
It’s not all: I’ve added the first-ever classification of Barbaresco producers in five tiers, similar to Bordeaux crus classés. Five best overall producers and five fastest-improving ones are covered with full profiles.
On four pages I summarise Barbaresco as a wine appellations, its recent (staggering) development, and the 2010 vintage. Plus there are some nice photos.
I’ve worked on the report during a trip in May (partly covered in this blog post) and again in July when I visited legendary producers such as Gaja, Bruno Giacosa, La Spinetta and Sottimano, among others. But the background for this report runs deeper: I first visited Barbaresco in 2001 and my classification, as well as many producer comments, are based on over 10 years’ experience with those regal Nebbiolo wines.
Rino Sottimano one of my Barbaresco portraits.
The report also marks the beginning of my collaboration with Tim Atkin MW, renowned wine writer and taster as well as esteemed colleague. I am honoured to have been invited by Tim to cover Northern Italy for his website, www.timatkin.com, the only wine website to have been award Louis Roederer International Wine Website of the Year twice (2011 and 2013).
So stay tuned for more reports: Barolo and Amarone are in the pipeline. And please support independent wine journalism by downloading the report here.