Barbaresco Riserva DOCG 2016

A Barbaresco whose 14.5% Vol. shows not as brute force but as substance. Dry, tautly built, with a tannic frame that still has years ahead of it. Anyone opening it today should give it air.

Azienda Agricola Sottimano is based in Cottà near Neive, where Rino Sottimano acquired the estate in the late 1960s. Today, Andrea, Elena and Claudia Sottimano farm nearly twenty hectares of Nebbiolo. The subsoil is defined by calcareous Tortonian-Asti marls. The 2016 vintage brought Piedmont a long, even growing cycle and cool autumn nights, resulting in ripe grapes with preserved acidity.

Nebbiolo, thin-skinned yet rich in tannin and acidity. Andrea Sottimano leaves the must on the skins for up to sixty days, fermented spontaneously with wild yeasts from vineyard and cellar. Malolactic fermentation only begins once the cellar warms naturally in spring, sometimes stretching into autumn. Extended barrel ageing and bottle ageing follow, at least four years for the Riserva. Neither filtered nor fined.

Upfront ripe dark cherry and plum, beneath that earthy notes, leather and tobacco. The tannin is pronounced yet finely polished, the acidity keeps the wine in motion and carries the finish far.

Brasato al Barolo or braised beef cheek, wild boar ragù with pappardelle, truffle dishes, finishing with aged Parmigiano Reggiano.

For over forty years the estate has worked without herbicides or synthetic fertilisers, mowing two to three times a year and ploughing every other row in autumn. Five single vineyards yield five Barbarescos: Cottà, Currà, Fausoni, Pajorè and Basarin.