866186834I 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