Produttori Del Barbaresco, wirh Aldo Vacca
Handford Wines, London
Tasted Tuesday, April 23, 2013 by Papies with 1,432 views
Introduction
Aldo Vacca of the produttori, led a tasting of a few wines from the PdB stable across vintages (including some old gems) . He is definitely a producer we would suggest one goes to his tastings as they guy provides a lot of interesting and colourful insight into the area of barbaresco. Great speaker too.
Aldo Vacca’s general overview of the Single Vineyard Bottlings:
Rabaja – Elegant, Silky tannins, intense dark fruits, bigger wines
Muncagota – Elegant and intense, not as big as the rabaja and with a floral side to it
Pora – Medium bodied, rich and broad with earthy notes
Montestefano – Full bodied, dark, ripe fruit with powerful finish
Mentefico – Solid structure, more mineral style with spicy fruit
Ovello – Clay gives fuller bodied feel, intense red fruit and youthful finish
Paje – complex yet bright and fresh with intense fruit from this cooler climate
Rio Sordo – elegant, medium bodied wines, with silky tannin and long finish
Asili, intense, complex wines with great refinement and lots of red fruit notes
A Quick run of the recent Barbaresco vintage comments from Aldo Vacca:
1996 – One to age still, very powerful wines with good longevity. Still on the rough side now.
1997 – One to drink now, 1st vintage of the global warming era.
1998 – Barolo vintage and no Single Vineyard bottling at PdB.
1999 – Long life, great vintage
2001 – Long life, great vintage
2005 – Originally not the greatest but wines have developed very well and have a rich fruit and drink very well now ( Papies found 2005 a bit too sweet at this stage)
2007 – Very balanced but has closed down and needs time to develop. Good Vintage though
2008 – Ripe, forward vintage and can be enjoyed young. Cherry notes wth silky tannin. Some hit and miss issues but one to start drinking younger.
2009 – Long life, very good vintage
2010 - Light vintage, not very sure about it
2011 - Monster vintage, big
2012 - More of a balanced vintage, still some rich fruit but nowhere close to 2011
2008 Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco 88 Points
Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco
Decanting helps here and the wine evolved nicely in the glass. Red fruit in the nose, caramel notes, sweet fruit, red cherry. Youthful but approachable wine, even at this stage however it does have some green/bitter tannin on the palate. Light sweet core of fruit continues on palate. Ripe fruit. Interesting and could well improve as time goes by. Drink sooner than later. 87-88
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2008 Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco Riserva Rabajà 91 Points
Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco
Dark in colour. Restrained, savoury nose (especially vs the “simple” barbaresco). Quite ripe on the palate, good red fruit, cherry and on the open, forward side now. Still the signs of youth are there with grippy tannin. Lush wine and could benefit from some more aging for sure but not austere at all and very much in tune at this stage with the forwardness of the 2008 vintage. 90-91 at this stage but will lots of scope to improve.
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2008 Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco Riserva Muncagota 92 Points
Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco
Restrained on the nose . On the palate however this is quire ripe and “powerful” and according to Aldo Vacca not a typical muncagota. Fuller wine, very lush and open. Less floral than AV expected it to be and much more of a Rabaja than anything else. This could well be a very interesting wine in the future. 92 now but look out for a lot more in 5yrs time.
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2007 Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco Riserva Pora 90 Points
Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco
Mild nose. Usually a forward wine and indeed here it was, round on the palate, peppery, cherry notes. This can be enjoyed now but time will only add and will for sure soften its grippy tannin. 89-90 now
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2007 Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco Riserva Rio Sordo 89 Points
Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco
Young red fruit notes on the nose. Less spicy than the Pora. On the palate the tannin is more evident and in general the wine feels closed down and shut and we would suggest one waits 2-3 years at a minimum. At the moment it feels pretty average to be honest. 89 now
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2007 Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco Riserva Ovello 90 Points
Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco
Gives a feeling much like the Rio Sordo that it has shut down. Restrained on the nose as well. Full bodied, young red fruit, savoury palate feel. The wine evolved in the glass at time went by but unfortunately this is on the closed side and we would suggest one waits 2-3 years before opening these. Maybe even more. 90 at this stage for us.
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2007 Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco Riserva Montestefano 93 Points
Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco
This is a great wine and even in the shut stage that the 2007s are now this shines and shows a lot of promise. Ripe core of fruit, red fruits, cherries. Powerful wine, youthful and full of life. Granted the tannin is quite grippy but this also has a fine balance and structure. Full of promise. 93 now but give this 5yrs and it will be a 95++. Patience pls
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2005 Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco Riserva Pajè 91 Points
Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco
Red cherry notes on the nose. Medium, light body, stylish wine, balanced with good fruit and elegance. A touch light though on vitality. Good wine and unlike the rest of the 2005’s we tried ( Asili & Montefico) lacks that lightly unbalanced sweet core. 91-92
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2005 Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco Riserva Asili 89 Points
Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco
Vintage typical rather than vineyard typical according to Aldo Vacca. Good fruit on the nose, darker fruits, light liquorice, violets. Ripe wine, lush wine. Good extract. A touch of an out of tune sweetness here, similar to the Montefico, but still a good wine to drink now. Not great in anyway though especially given the terroir. Time will help hopefully . 89 for now
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2005 Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco Riserva Montefico 90 Points
Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco
Cherry notes, leather, liquorice. Much like the 05 Asili it has a sweet core and again this sweetness unbalances the wine. Round and ripe again more of a vintage character rather than a specific vineyard. Light earthy at this stage. Has good structure and intensity 90-91 for now.
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1985 Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco 93 Points
Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco
German export label (Black, almost an inversion of the normal label) - Brownish in colour as expected. The nose is still very much alive and intense . not bad for a “simple” barbaresco. 85 was a good but not great vintage so not expected this to last so well. Mushroom, leather, tobacco. Mellow wine but still very balanced and with a nice intensity. Very nice 92-93
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1978 Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco Riserva Montestefano 93 Points
Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco
Straight from the Cellars of the Produttori via the hands of Aldo Vacca. From the Vintage of a lifetime that 1978 was in barbaresco.
Lots of sediment here one needs to take care not to cloudy the wine (ours was unfortunately) . Quite dark on the colour side, a lot darker than expected by a 35year old barbaresco. Earth, mushrooms, forest floor and leather dominate the nose. On the palate the tannins are still very evident , good acidity, light spicy notes too and amazingly alive. Very nice 93+
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