After lunch we dropped into the excellent Enoteca Regionale del Barbaresco. The Enoteca has the current release of virtually every Barbaresco produced on sale with several to taste. We tried the La Ca’ Nova as we planned to visit there tomorrow … Deep colour. A bouquet of black fruit, liquorice, minerals and black spices. As you would expect from a wine from perhaps the most Barolo-like of all Barbaresco vineyards, and a warm year, a big structured, serious, tannic wine. A lot of generous black fruit, but also mineral with an iron core. Quite taut and closed. I thought I detected a slight alcohol burn on the finish. However, I also thought the Montestefano showed great potential but needed another 5-7+ years in the cellar.

It was a warm day, so we got a bottle of this Arneis to share at the very good Nonsolovino wine shop in Barbaresco. I like good Arneis, including most recent vintages of Vietti and some previous Bruno Giacosa versions. Here, however, I wasn’t impressed … Pale colour. A typical Arneis bouquet: lemon zest, chalk, cut straw and a touch of lanolin. In the mouth, seemingly lower acid and quite fleshy. Viscous and oily. Pear, lemon, lime and straw. Lacking energy and precision. “The sweetness is not well balanced”, said Thierry. The wine is young, but I’m not sure that a year or two in the cellar will transform this Arneis into something better.