Piedmont, Italy
This is exceptionally characterful Barbera and a throwback to the great Barbera wines of the past. Longtime readers of this newsletter will recall our featuring in these pages many years ago a particularly fine Barbera d’Asti Vigna del Noce from the Trinchero family. Well, friends, this is the same wine, now crafted by Ezio Trinchero, the son of Renato Trinchero who made the superlative Barberas we featured in the mid-1990s. From vines planted in 1929, the 2015 Terra del Noce Barbera casts a dense plum color in the glass followed by textbook Barbera aromas of plums, licorice, saddle leather, cinnamon, nutmeg, and mushroomy earth. Classical and uncompromising on the palate, impressions of leafy underbrush merge with a kernel of chewy Bing cherry and black plum fruit accented by game, leather, limestone soil, and a wonderful dose of the good ol’ funk. Plentiful fine tannins and bristling acidity lift the wine’s dense core of fruit and lead it to a fantastic old-school Piemontese finish. Enjoy now with braised beef, oven-roasted root vegetables, egg-rich pastas, pizza, marinated flank steak, and eggplant casseroles or grilled pork. For those with patience, Ezio T.’s characterful 2015 Barbera has the structure and poise to ensure five to seven years’ positive evolution in your cool cellar. Limited.
Antonio Galloni, Vinous: 90 points
