2015 Barbaresco Pora Riserva Produttori del Barbaresco

The 2015 Barbaresco Riserva Pora is just as radiant and seductive as it was a few months ago. Plush and sumptuous in the glass, the 2015 Pora captures all of the natural intensity of the year. Even with all of its lush fruit, the Pora has plenty of structural underpinnings beneath. Succulent dark cherry, plum, espresso, menthol and licorice notes flesh out in this forward, wonderfully inviting Riserva from the Produttori. In 2015, the Pora is a real overachiever. Best of all, it should drink well with minimal cellaring.

Underbrush, wild herb and dark-skinned-berry aromas form the nose along with a whiff of camphor. On the firm, structured palate, tightly knit but noble tannins offset dried Marasca cherry, cranberry, orange zest and star anise. Tense and youthfully austere, it needs a few years to unwind.

Pora is one of Barbaresco's largest vineyards, situated on a southwest-facing slope close to the river where the soils are relatively fertile and loose. Produttori has made a wine from Pora since 1967, and today around 16,500 bottles are produced in vintages when it's made. This 2015 still has a pronounced woody aroma, and while it's mouthilling it manages to retain some elegance. It's obviously youthful: the vanilla- and spice-infused wood flavours dominate and hold your attention, the fruit unable as of yet to punch through. It does have plenty of promise, however, and you could expect the succulent and ripe fruits to hold more sway over the next decade as the wood integrates. Drinking Window 2024 - 2040.

Following the suggestion of Produttori del Barbaresco General Manager Renato Vacca, I am starting off this series of nine Riservas with the 2015 Barbaresco Riserva Pora. This wine is usually the most delicate, slender and ephemeral of this set. However, I can immediately confirm that this is not necessarily the case with this exuberant 2015 vintage. The sunny heat of the growing season has successfully drawn out more fruit weight and intensity in this edition of Pora. The wine overdelivers in terms of aromas, but its streamlined and polished personality follows through to the palate. Those divergent intensity levels will smooth out with more bottle age. Some 16,666 bottles were released.

A mix of black cherry, mint, eucalyptus and tar flavors highlight this firmly structured Barbaresco, which nonetheless remains fresh and focused, with a line of dense tannins lifting the long finish. Best from 2023 through 2043. -B.S.