2016 Barbaresco Montefico Riserva Produttori del Barbaresco

The 2016 Barbaresco Montefico is a jewel of a wine. Freshly cut flowers, minerals, crushed rocks, rose petal and lavender are all finely cut. As always, the Montefico is tense and chiseled in style. Its sense of transparency is simply beguiling. Sage, mint and sweet pipe tobacco are some of the nuances that linger. The Montefico is a Barbaresco that will thrill readers who enjoy taut reds. It blends the fruit richness of the Montestefano with the verve of Ovello.

This Riserva pours from the bottle with a medium dark appearance, showing more color saturation and fruit concentration than the other wines in this series. The Produttori del Barbaresco 2016 Barbaresco Riserva Montefico (with 10,136 bottles released) is a wine of power and density, and you sense this clearly in the aromatic determination and heft delivered here. (Like the other Riservas in this group, it clocks in at a 15% alcohol content.) The fruit tones veer toward dark purple and black, with plum and wild blackberries. There are earthy tones as well, with potting soil and iron ore. This wine plays its cards of volume and width with an expert hand, thanks to a blend of fruit from the vineyards of the Casetta, Grasso, Rocca and Vacca families.

Statelighed, en kongelig vin, opret, stærk i blicket, men ikke arrogant og hoven. Fantastisk, rent ud sagt – en af den slags mennesker… øh hov, jeg mener vine, som sætter et uudsletteligt mærke i sindet. Sødmefuld og pakket med sure kirsebær, tørrede blomster og frisk figen og så kommer der en geologisk tone, en slags vidunderlig riesling’sk stenet og mineralsk fornemmelse, der gentager sig i smagen. Stor og bragende, men præcis i sine bevægelser, finkornet tannin, der lægger sig som modhager udenpå sitrende syre og frugtighed. Smertende intens.