2001 Azienda Pier Barbaresco Riserva Vila

Garagiste

• By Jon Rimmerman
  12/3/2008, (See more on Garagiste...)

  (VILA Riserva Pier Barbaresco) Barbaresco Dear Friends, I saved a few of our biggest offers for the holiday season and this should be one of them. Last year's 2000 Pier Vila Riserva was so well received for the tarriff that it became a thorn in my side as I couldn't find enough to satisfy the demand (we offered it three different times and we still get requests for it - three times is my limit). The bad news is that the 2000 is long gone at the wholesale level - the good news is that it's been followed up by the 2001. You can pretty much write your own offer here - 2001 was a fantastic growing season and this is the best Riserva parcel of the Vila, a blend of several vineyards around Treiso, Nicolini and Ca'Grossa (including an infamous parcel that is an extension of the material for Barbaresco's most expensive wine). The Riserva is the finest material Pier has from their stock and it is released 6-7 years after the harvest. In and of itself, this is not a big deal (there are many top quality 2001 Riservas from the region) but when you factor in the price, now we are onto something... 2001 Barbaresco Riserva? Isn't Giacosa $150-250 for the 2001 Barbaresco Riserva (red label)? The parcels cost about the same to farm? Ok, this isn't Giacosa (it's not even close) but I'll say the same thing I did with last year's 2000 Vila: Pier represents the finest value in Riserva-level wine being produced in the region - I'm not really sure anyone is close. Certainly there are competitive or even better examples at $40-60 but that's double the tarriff? What makes this even more remarkable is that Pier could easily charge $35-40 without a blink (how about $40-50?) but he chooses not to. He chooses for the consumer to open his wine, not stare at it. His goal is to demystify the "only on a special occasion" mystique that surrounds Barolo and Barbaresco by offering his best wines at prices that should tempt a gun-shy audience to indulge. By the response we received last year, I think he's succeeded. For me, the fact that these are mostly traditional in production (in a manner taught to Pier Paolo by his father and grandfather), from great vineyard material and vinified in old fermenting tanks, steel and 80-90% large Slavonian casks is even more fascinating (this is not some commercial swill bottled to sell at a cheap price). In the current market, the traditional producers command a higher price than the modernists (it was the other way around 5-10 years ago) and Pier could jump on the bandwagon quite easily but he doesn't (even Roagna has increased in price lately). The 2001 Vila Riserva is far more structured than the 2000 (in keeping with the top harvest) - it has the tannic strength of a gold-standard season with buried rose, tar and balsam swimming gleefully in a soup of bright red Nebbiolo splendor. There is no new oak influence to mar the purity of the vintage and the strong material is the essence of the hillside vineyards of the region. While perfectly enjoyable now (with 2-4 hours of decant time), this wine will last longer than the 2000 Vila Riserva and I would advise laying it down for another 3-5 years to enjoy the evolution. Keep in mind, Nebbiolo (in a similar fashion to Pinot Noir) is not a wine that typically gets better on day two - it reaches a peak after 6-12 hours of oxygen exposure and typically descends on day 2 and 3 when the acid rises to the forefront (while there are exceptions, I believe most fans of Barolo or Barbaresco will agree with this assessment and it's always a game of cat and mouse with decant times on a top bottle of Nebbiolo - unlike Cabernet-based wines that can be even better on day 2-3). A top bargain from a top vintage. Pier recommends the 2001 Vila with rabbit, roasted baby goat, aged cheeses and dried fruit - while the first two recommendations are not exactly par for course on the American dinner table, maybe the wine will inspire some gastronomic wandering as well. I served this with roast turkey over the holiday weekend and it was a terrific match (even with the tannins). HIGHLY RECOMMENDED as a reminder that value and consumer advocacy still exists in our crazy wine-world: This parcel is directly from the source with perfect provenance: 2001 Pier Barbaresco "Vila" Riserva (Treiso) Thank you, Jon Rimmerman Garagiste Seattle, WA Italy6610