September 23, 2022 - Vertical degustation of Barrua with Friends. Lineup: 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015. Results: 2012 first ranked, 2010 second, 2015 third. 2011 was unfortunately corked.
2015, a very good wine by any token and also the one that all tried as first, some thought it was too young, some thought it had less french grapes in the mix (that at least on the official web site is not disclosed). The only one where I could taste myrtle. 91 pts.
2010, Superior to the 2015, more round, probably due to the age. It started showing signs of having reached its peak, still I would not hurry if I still had in store. I liked the well matured tannins. 93 pts.
2012, By far the be best of the lot. I still wonder if it was only a particularly good vintage, cellar maturation or the wine makers did put additional attention on the 10-years jubilee edition. Fruit still very crisp, soft and well ripened tannins. 94 pts.
Overall very consistent tasting profile of red fruits, liquorice, spices. Great quality. For the overall bottles that I tried, one corked is acceptable, pity I did not have a second 2011 to try in the same context.
September 21, 2021 - Slow ox for one hour. Full bodied, round, full in the mouth, a little heavy and blocky. Black currant, cocoa,cigar box and earth comes through on the palate. Doesn’t show much age but I don’t think it will evolve.
June 30, 2021 - My last bottle. Still consistent with previous bottles drunk. A bit too heavy to merit a higher score.
May 1, 2021 - Slow ox for one hour. The nose on this a bit stinky with some barnyard aromas dominating. The wine shows ripe plum and blackberry, herbs and earth in a round, plump sort of style. Overall it tasted on the one hand a little overdone and on the other a little over the hill. I am wondering whether this was a bad bottle or something.
November 9, 2020 - This bottle was similar to the bottles I've opened in 2017 and 2019 -- quite delicious, but with a sense that it is losing a little of its mojo. So, I suspect it needs to be drunk in the near term, since it may go downhill soon.
April 17, 2020 - shared with pat at selkirk manor. celebrating the completion of another week of sip in place due to covid-19. i rarely decant wine when serving as i tend to hold on to bottles to the end of their suggested drinking ranges and fear that additional oxygen exposure might be less than beneficial. i had reason to believe that this bottle might be exception to my rule. therefore, i decanted one hour before serving. the wine presented beautifully. i don't have experience with the carignano grape but i assume that it contributed the chocolate overtones of the flavor profile. the wine continued to develop and improve during 45 minutes of service. paired perfectly with T-bone. fine sediment adheres to the sidewall of the bottle. not much made it into the glass. the wine is beautiful now but can easily benefit from several more years in the bottle. this is a hefty wine that outperforms its price point. wish i had purchased more.
March 15, 2020 - Absolutly wonderfull wine. A real pleasure to drink. I wouldn't wait much before opening my last bottle.
December 1, 2019 - Great with manacotti
November 9, 2019 - Same notes as last bottle -- a pleasure.
September 15, 2019 - Ruby red. Red cherry, smoke. Big and powerful.