September 29, 2020 - Elegance in spades.
August 7, 2020 - Dusty tannins - mostly resolved. Still has plenty of fruit. Not too challenging a wine - enjoyed by all
October 12, 2019 - Drunk over dinner with friends, no TN, from memory.
Elegant, floral, red-fruited nose, with just the beginning of evolution. Beguiling.
On the palate it is assertive but light-footed, with still firm, but not overpowering tannins. With food it was perfect.
August 9, 2018 - 14% alcohol. Tasted blind.
Consistent with my previous tasting notes. Very ripe, concentrated and robust Nebbiolo; very powerful and brooding in style, more reminiscent of Barolo than Barbaresco. Overall very tightly-structured and astringent with a lot of unresolved tannins. Feels like it could use a decade or more before really starting to open up. The warm vintage shows - to the extent I first guessed 2009 Barbaresco Santo Stefano. I got it almost this time - the vintage was off by a year and this was "Monte" instead of "Santo"! Oh well. A great wine anyway. Perhaps a bit too close for overripeness for comfort, but still staying within the borders.
April 20, 2018 - medium to dark ruby color. opens with a nose of rose, tar, cherry liquor and mint but changes to more of a balsamic nature as the wine opens up. nose reminds me more of a barolo. this is a darker brooding wine as far as barbaresco's go. on the palate, I get cherry and an underlying earthiness that seems to pervade this wine. The Serafino family only makes wine from this one prestigious vineyard so you might expect it to be quite good and it doesn't dissapoint. an hour an a half into the wine and it is drinking fabulously. secondary flavor characteristics have just started to develop in this wine so perhaps the next bottle won't be opened for another 5 to 7 years. This is a wine that is made in the old style. no barrique here and therefore no hint of oak, just the varietal beauty of nebbiolo.
December 10, 2017 - El bombazo de la noche. Refinado, flores secas, hongos, arándanos, tierra mojada. Nariz compleja y muy equilibrada, para oler horas y horas. Bastante hecho en boca, para mi el tanino es totalmente aceptable, buenisima acidez y muy bebible, no cansa, al contrario, vicia.
September 24, 2017 - This was beautiful and in a great drinkingspot. Loved the depth of fruit and overall terroir of the wine. Great composition and complexity. Hard as shit to find, but damn worth it.
May 23, 2017 - Is it possible that this was closing down for a while? Seems like it needs a lot more time to open up.
March 15, 2017 - 14% alcohol.
Luminous, quite deep and intense dark cherry with moderate translucency and a pale, orange rim. Rich, powerful and quite savory nose with pronounced floral notes of roses and aromas of dark cherries, some lifted VA character, a little bit of tar, a hint of sweet cocktail cherry, a whiff of dried strawberries and a touch of loamy earth. The wine is moderately full-bodied, powerful and savory on the palate with very ripe flavors of dark berries, some sour cherry bitterness, light raisiny fruit, a little bit of liquorice, a gamey note of iron, a hint of roasted spices and a touch of tar. The wine is obviously quite tannic with pretty noticeable, gum-gripping astringency, but the acidity is medium-to-moderately high, which feels a bit low for a Barbaresco. Actually I think that the wine is a bit higher in acidity in reality, but the pronounced fruit concentration and high alcohol mask some of it away. Overall the wine is pretty fruit-driven, as there is no noticeable oak influence. The finish is spicy, rather powerful and lengthy with moderate tannic grip and flavors of meaty umami, roasted exotic spices, ripe black cherries, some sour cherry bitterness, a little bit of dried dark fruits, a hint of tar and a touch of tart lingonberry character.
A very powerful and expressive Barbaresco with a lot of concentration and oomph - enough to make people question the division of Nebbioli to more "masculine" Barolo and "feminine" Barbaresco. The wine is lacking a bit of Nebbiolo's typical freshness and the emphasis seems to be on the ripe, bold fruit, but the wine is nevertheless very structured and well-balanced with no part of the wine feeling under- or over-presented. The wine feels still very, very young and it is easy to promise long cellaring potential for this wine. Somewhat drinkable, albeit quite tightly-knit already, but probably start to sing no less than 10 years from now. I think I prefer the vintage 2012 over this one, but only by a very small margin.
February 13, 2016 - Stunning. Classic. Very elegant. accessible, but it will improve in the coming years.