Score: 90/100
Musso is a famous winery located in the village of Barbaresco in the Piedmont wine region of Italy.
Their iconic wines include a series of single vineyard Barbaresco wines made of the Nebbiolo grape, but they also produce a variety of more affordable beverages showcasing the diversity Piedmont has to offer: Langhe Nebbiolo, Dolcetto d’Alba, Roero Arneis, Langhe Chardonnay and a Barbera wine from Alba, to name but a few.
The Pora Barbaresco reviewed here, is one of two single vineyard Barbaresco wines produced by Musso, the other one being Musso Rio Sordo Barbaresco (wine review).
Vineyard Characteristics
The grapes for this Nebbiolo are produced on the estate vineyards of Musso in the historical cru of Pora, once known as Citadel Pora.
Soil here are a mixture of limestone and clay tending to produce wines with character and ageability.
Winemaking
Grapes are hand harvested, crushed, and de-stemmed. The vinification follows a traditional method in steel tanks. The maceration lasts about 20 days with regular pumpovers.
The wine is then matured in oak vats of 50 hectoliters for 12 months and then for another 10-12 months in vats of 20 hectoliters.
Tasting notes
This Barbaresco comes in a dark red color of medium intensity, not super dark (Nebbiolo wines not very often are) yet appearing rather concentrated.
The nose though delivers in aromatic intensity. Jammy plum, prune are the dominant aromas. Dark chocolate, dried fig, the typical tar notes of Nebbiolo, and some Christmas spices complete the nose of a rich-scented, very ripe and appealing wine to smell. Complex!
In your mouth, the wine bursts in flavors too. Again, it’s very ripe and plummy, with plenty of cherry liqueur flavors. A lot of mixed sweet spiced of all sorts also enjoyably invade your senses, never altering the fruitiness of the Barbaresco.
The finish offers a rather unique experience, as layered old oak vat’s scents come to reveal themselves to your senses one after the other. Layers of vanilla and spices, and something like toasted wet wood notes, like the inside of an ancient wooden boat transporting port wine to faraway lands. Very special!
Rich oily body, not with noticeably tannins except to the finish where they become granulous and drying.
Overall
A Barbaresco wine with a big heart and loads of fruity and spicy character.
Rich in very ripe fruit, or even liqueur notes, it surprises and amazes with unexpected scents popping up on your palate every half a second.
Hard to describe very accurately as it seems to be unpalpable.
Yet this wine…, has a lot to say if you listen to it carefully!
Enjoy 🙂
Check Out Musso Barbaresco Pora in Video
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