Score: 91+/100
Azienda Agricola Marziano Abbona is a famous wine producer of the Langhe region located around the town of Dogliani.
They produce a wide range of wines, from the Dolcetto signature grape of the village to prestigious Nebbiolo from single vineyard Barolos.
Barbera is also a very popular grape variety of the Piedmont region in Northern Italy.
The one reviewed here made from grapes grown in vineyards of Monforte d’Alba in Rinaldi, locale the wine is named after.
Vines here are old averaging 48 years of age. The first Rinaldi Barbera d’Alba wine was therefore produced quite a while ago in 1975.
After fermentation, the wine was aged in wine barrels for 12 months before final blending, stabilization and bottling.
Tasting Notes
Color is very intensely dark, especially for a Barbera wine which tend to be lighter in color than their Nebbiolo or Dolcetto cousins. Dark red color here, with youthful and concentrated purple hues.
The nose is rather tight at this stage. This is a very young and youthful wine.
Yet, the aroma is frank and honest in its nature and expression: plenty of quality oak characters, and plenty of fresh fruit notes too.
One can smell the grapes must have been very concentrated at harvest (suggesting a good terroir and a solid effort in the vineyard to control the Barbera’s natural vigor), and that a particular attention has been put into the winemaking to respect it. Maturity of the grapes must also have been quite advanced as the wine displays notes of ripe red fruits: plum, cherry and blackberry.
The palate strikes by its full-bodiedness, and the purity and power of its flavor expression.
Big amounts and concentration of tannins (smooth overall) are joined by a solid acidity and a huge number of flavors. Plenty of spiciness, the ripe black berry fruits described above, and roasted coffee, cocoa, and vanilla from an apparent wealth of oak.
Overall
A Barbera d’Alba that astonishes by its concentration and the ripeness of its fruit characters.
Clearly Abbona has meant to make a modern oaky and rich expression of the grape here.
The result is very powerful and concentrated, smooth too for a Barbera (variety that can often be quite grippy in the feel), yet also very balanced and characterful.
The natural greenness and freshness that we like in Barbera is somehow there, but complemented here by a wealth of ripe primary fruit flavors and oak.
Give this wine a year or two to fully come together, and you should have a stunner of a concentrated and satisfying wine for lovers of modern-winemaking Barbera wines.
Learn more about the producer and find all their wine reviews at Marziano Abbona winery profile:
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