93+ RP
2021 - 2035
Barbera loves a warm vintage, and that's exactly what it got in 2017. Roberto Conterno tells me his favorite recent vintages are 2015, 2016 and 2017. Because of low yields in this hot and dry year, no large-format bottles of the 2017 Barbera d'Alba Cerretta were produced. The Cerretta vineyard is characterized by a higher percentage of clay soils, and this greatly impacts the density and the power of the wines that come from this site. This wine shows dark fruit intensity with some lingering sweetness (followed by 15.5% alcohol). However, the wine also offers concentrated freshness packed tight within the thick fiber of the fruit, and the results are never heavy. This beautiful wine just oozes Barbera typicity with soft and generous layering.
Here are my reviews of barrel samples tasted at the winery the last week of April. Among the samples is a new wine produced for the first time: the 2015 Barolo Arione, made with fruit from one of the estate's most high profile recent land acquisitions. Roberto Conterno will bottle all these wines on June 10th, just as we prepare to go to print. These wines will hit the market in October. When appropriate, I have given final scores to these wines, or a range of scores, accordingly. This year, I not only tasted new vintages, I got to taste from a new glass too. Roberto Conterno has designed new stemware called Sensory. With the help of his son who made 3-D computer designs from Roberto’s hand sketches, the Sensory glass offers these distinguishing factors: 1) The universal glass is used for both white and red wines; 2) The base of the balloon is almost flat, giving the wine a wider rest area at the bottom; 3) The side curve of the balloon is taller and wider, at a very open angle. This gives the wine more room to travel when you swirl the glass; and 4) The actual stem is on the short side, giving you the ideal distance between your fingers to hold the glass steady. My impression? Wow, this glass is to wine what high definition is to a television screen.
