2016 Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco
Community Tasting Note
Caruso Likes this wine:
94 Points
Saturday, November 25, 2023 - Garnet. Medium intense nose with cherries, spices, violets and minerals more complexity than this enumeration tells. Same on the palate with outstanding intensity. Still quite tannic, but ready right now. This tannins will never be shed. So if you don't like tannic wines, this may be not the right one for you. Outstanding spicy lenght. This bottle needed some air and it was partly decanted, which add some more complexity and intensity after30 minutes or so, but then resulted in a less nuanced appearance after extended airing over two hours. Then the part in the bottle was better. 5/12/17/10. -2035+
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8 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Report Issue (11,924 views)
8 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Report Issue (11,924 views)
Comment posted by North Willis:
11/26/2023 1:24:00 AM - Thanks for your note. Are claiming the tannins won't soften over time? That's what happens to Barbarescos over time. Or that it's a wine that will always have a firmly tannic structure?
Comment posted by Caruso:
11/26/2023 11:15:00 PM - This Barbaresco doesn't show an intense colour, so the concentration of anthocyanins is low. Tannins are reduced by polymerisation with anthocyanins. But if the concentration of anthocyanins is low and the concentration of tannin is high, the tannins can not be reduced at least not within the optimal drinking window. The optimal drinking window of this barbaresco is from now to maybe 2040 (Monica Larner, TWA). I guess 2035. The tannins will maybe be reduced a little bit in this time, but this wine will not be smooth or with low levels of tannin in 10- 15 years. This wine has not thrown any sediment yet. So it has not reduced its levels of tannin in the last 4 years of bottle age. Barolos and Barbaresco do not age as long as the best bordeaux. They are not as resistent to oxidation. Even the best barbarescos have a drinking window of 20 and only in a few cases of 30 to 40 years.
Comment posted by North Willis:
11/27/2023 1:02:00 AM - @ Caruso - thank you for your reply and note. This is immensely helpful! Your reasoning seems well grounded in wine chemistry. So for you, the sweet spot would be around 2035 (tannins resolved some but fruit still present)?
Comment posted by North Willis:
11/27/2023 6:11:00 AM - @ Caruso - are you on Wine Berserkers? I started a thread based on this exchange (didn't use your handle, though). If so, jump in. Would be great to have your input!
Comment posted by Caruso:
11/27/2023 8:41:00 AM - Puh, what have I done? I saw the discussion on wineberserker (name of that site seems to fit ;-), given the incompetent statement about wine chemistry e.g.), but have no time to go through all of this. Nevertheless I would like to make clear, that of course I don't take the tannin levels of the PdB 2016 as a fault. In fact, there is nothing wrong with it. I gave 94 points, didn't I. I wouldn't gave it 94 points if it would be faulty or out of balance. No, I wouldn't count myself as a nebbiolo expert, but I had enough old Nebbiolos from Barolo and Barbaresco that I can say, that the rule is that they age without loosing their tannins to an extent like old Bordeaux, e.g. In fact, even notes of very old Barbaresco often mention the rest of tannins, that remain, while the colour is reduced and oxidative flavors may occur. That's my experience as well. So I don't understand the aggression due to my statement, that the tannins of this wine never will be shed (completely, to a large extent). That is something that nebbiolo lovers seem to like given the discussion and that's okay of course.