I took this bottle to a lunch held by my wine group at the lovely Italian restaurant La Cucinetta in Sydney. The wine was a great hit.
One member of our group, Geoff, proclaimed it as the best wine he had drunk in several years. Now, Geoff isn’t known for understatement but he has a great palate, tested against some of the best in this country and his opinion is to be respected.
For me this is one of those great wines that effortlessly balance power and elegance with an intensity of flavour that lingers long after the last drop disappears. It is a brilliant deep red colour, has a fine intense bouquet and sends you to its Northern Italian roots with wonderful savoury flavours of ham, mushroom and woodland. A quality piece of unadorned red meat would complement this wine wonderfully.
This barbaresco is crafted in the modern style of Italian wine making. There are no old stodgy, musty, hot flavours but rather clean, complex mouth filling ones that deliver a warm satisfaction and leave you yearning for another mouthful, well in a few minutes after you’ve savoured this one for a few minutes yet.
Ten years old but still fresh and vibrant and many years of life left in it. This is one of those wines that you could enjoy young, in mid-age as it is now, but also it will age elegantly for many years yet. At first I thought I should have left it a few years, but it was so fantastic there were no regrets.
I generally prefer the barbaresco style compared to the more venerated barolo. They are of course both made from the nebiolo grape and are close neighbours in the Piedmont region of Northern Italy, but I find barbaresco a more elegant wine, more approachable when younger and of course significantly cheaper.
A couple of more professional revues that you might find informative
http://www.vinzealot.com/a-modernist-style-barbaresco-that-i-like-it-very-much-2004-la-spinetta-rivetti-barbaresco-vursu-vigneto-gallina
http://www.winesanywhere.com/sku12199.html
Thanks for the useful information. Need to add your blog to bookmarks
Hi, thanks for your interest.
La Spinetta is a great place to visit in Piedmont and they have an excellent range of outstanding Italian wines. I visited their winery in October and plan to write a longer post about the winery, its wines and the Rivetti family who own and manage the business. They are amazing and incredibly friendly.
As you can see, our site is in its infancy but we will soon have a much larger number of posts from a variety of knowledgeable contributors. We are dedicated to bringing to people’s attention quality food and wine producers. We believe in the importance of context and so we will endeavour to explain how producers’ creations relate to the area they come from.
We hope they keep your interest and look forward to hearing from you soon.