Jono B's Produttori 2007s

JB, plotting for close to 18 years, organised a Produttori 2007 evening in London, generously supplying buy-ins for all of us without a bottle. How would the wines show in this hot year? Would the individual terroirs shine through, would the expected winner be the expected winner?

• 2007 Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco 88 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco

  Medium red. Very savoury nose, leather, cherry and dried fruit. Feels like a sun-soaked wine. Light on its feet, tannin still observably present, like a lick of sandpaper on the edge of the tongue that gives the wine a bit of kick. Red fruit bias, still present but fading, in good shape you would have to say but one to drink up. That said, think about how impressive this is for a mass-produced wine. A good start.

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• 2007 Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco Riserva Pora 89 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco

  A shade darker than the normale. Fully mature, not long to go. Smoke, dried meats, spice the red fruit just about keeping pace with tertiary flavours but I think this is now on the gentle glide downwards. It's a warm, feel-good kind of wine at this stage, very comfortable in where it is. Not my favourite on the evening but it's hard to knock it.

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• 2007 Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco Riserva Rio Sordo 93 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco

  Same medium red colour as the others, but this is night and day versus the Pora. Could be a decade younger virtually, it has evolved glacially. Graceful and pure, higher toned, linear and balanced with a cool blue and red fruit signature. Gets better and better, especially in the larger of the three glasses. Splendid, I'd be pleased to have bottles left of this and there seems to be absolutely no hurry whatsoever.

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• 2007 Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco Riserva Pajè 89 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco

  More akin to the Pora in terms of evolution and structure. It's spicy, dusty, a wholesome core of red fruit keeping it all together. The fruit that went into this must have been terrific. Likely at peak, perhaps about to tip, I'd have been really interested to have crossed paths with it a few years ago. Lovely wine to complete the first flight of three, all three quite different, though I don't know enough about the crus to know if they sing of place.

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• 2007 Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco Riserva Asili 93 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco

  Medium red. Like the Rio Sordo is high-toned, but this easily eclipses that wine. Vibrant, dynamic, full of life, this weaves a path between silken and and robust, seemingly changing from sip to sip as a number of us note. Gosh it's good, searing red fruit, dances along. With time the elegant nature outpaces the competing elements and it becomes smoother and refined. Tons of interest, lots left in the tank, takes top spot at this juncture in proceedings.

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• 2007 Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco Riserva Rabajà 94 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco

  Nose that knocks you for six. Out of the park, at least initially. Exuberant before calming, fabulous. Very giving, open, forward, lithe ripe red fruit, a bit of darker cherry poking out, incredibly inviting "come hither and drink me, drink me". Why can't all wine be like this? This - for me - is likely already the wine of the night, it is firing on all cylinders and is beautiful. Very classy indeed.

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• 2007 Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco Riserva Muncagota 91 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco

  Darker and denser than it's flight-mates. So different, but no less interesting or intense. Meaty, spicy and succulent, dark-fruited and rich. Air seems to lighten it, brings softer tones, redder fruit and a certain precision emerges. This is a solid wine (in a good way), tons of structure, I expect it will get better and better and you can safely keep this in reserve for a belting experience in say five years.

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• 2007 Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco Riserva Ovello 88 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco

  Rich, full, chewy and spicy, my first proper sense of olive tapenade here. It's pretty tough, firm, unforgiving of being opened and not pleased about it. Harder work for sure, I am told Ovello is like this - I remember bringing an '05 from another producer to a dinner that was also tough as nails. Once again totally different from the other wines in the flight, and in fact all of the six that have at this point preceded it. It's like an unyielding combination of the Rio Sordo and the Muncagota. Where will it go, how long does it need?

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• 2007 Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco Riserva Montefico 92 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco

  Dark and lovely, a class act from the get go. Open and inviting in a way that the Ovello is not, tempered with a spine of rock and tannin that reminds you what you have and that this will go the distance. I find that red cherry emerges with a swish, more delicacy here than I initially though, a fragility that is probably a figment of my imagination. Lovely wine, this shouts quality and class.

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• 2007 Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco Riserva Montestefano 93 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco

  Just a baby really, the nose is muted. Mocha notes, creamy, spicy, everything in check. It grows, begins to swell in the glass with air, becomes bigger and brighter. There is a red fruit tartness, a vibrancy overlayed with solid black cherry that is positively opulent. Ooof, this is lovely and will get lovlier. Do I prefer the Asili? I don't know, I don't know...so hard.

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As the table shows, we all preferred 4 out of the 9 (10 including the normale) wines, with scant votes going to Pora, Pajé and Ovello, and Asili, Rabaja, Montefico and Rio Sordo essentially cleaning up. It depended whether you voted on the here and now, or on future promise - as ever there was probably a mixture.

The wines all showed well, not a single dodgy bottle. And they were all different, though I do not know the Cru well enough to say why other than perhaps Ovello whose reputation precedes it. We served them in flights of three per the standard Aldo formula.

The 10 Cases is an excellent venue, good food (enormous portions vs modern cuisine standards), very attentive and friendly service (from Sam), a quiet and undisturbed private room (downstairs, rhs), and we all enjoyed it. Glasses OK, lots of water (important when all wines 14.5%), and a relaxed atmosphere.