Barbaresco Rizzi – 2016

The 2016 Barbaresco Rizzi is the most balanced wine in this series. The other wines feel a bit too ripe in my opinion, even in this 2016 vintage. This wine offers a soft and delicate side that is expressed with sweet fruit, spice, licorice and tar. This wine is firm and ultimately the most elegant. It could be served right away with a dish of veal-filled agnolotti. Drink date 2020 – 2035

Here’s a very pretty Barbaresco confidently placed in floral territory, where violets are joined by sour cherries and bright citrus. The medium-to full-bodied palate is tightly knit, but poised to deliver power as it unwinds through compressed citrus and blue fruit. Drink from 2022.

Treiso. Tasted blind. Mid to deep ruby. Balsamic fruit that is almost a little ethereal and with minerally hints. Ripe, soft and juicy palate with gorgeous gripping yet ripe tannins that cement themselves firmly on the finish. Succulent, elegant, expressive. 2020 – 2030

Wild berry, menthol, herb and leather aromas take center stage along with star anise. The tightly wound palate reflects the nose, showing red cherry, pomegranate, licorice and tobacco alongside fine-grained tannins and racy acidity that create a firm finish.

Rizzi’s Barbaresco, from the cooler sub-zone of Treiso, is beautifully taut and fresh, if a little austere now. It’s clear, pure focus and forceful style are so appealing, with some sweet, ripe, black cherry fruit hinting at what’s to come. At the moment the structure is closing down the fruit and it needs time to come around, but it has great potential. 2020 – 2032