2014 Barbaresco: An October Surprise

BY ANTONIO GALLONI | OCTOBER 31, 2017

The 2014 Barbarescos confirm all the potential they showed as recently bottled wines a year ago. Vibrant, perfumed and beautifully delineated, the 2014s capture the essence of what makes Nebbiolo so compelling. In short, the 2014 Barbarescos speak to the essence of site as expressed in one of the most unusual growing seasons in recent memory. Most, if not all, of the region’s reference-point producers made memorable wines, including Gaja, Bruno Rocca, Cigliuti, Moccagatta, Fiorenzo Nada, Ceretto, and the Produttori del Barbaresco, who will also bottle their collection of nine Riservas. The early press on 2014 in Italy was quite pessimistic, which means the 2014s may struggle to gain acceptance in the market. Savvy readers will want to seek out the best of these wines before their quality becomes widely apparent.

The village of Barbaresco as seen from Muncagota 

The 2014 Growing Season and Wines

I spent more than a month in Piedmont in 2014, including four full weeks at the beginning of the summer. Sounds of cannons used to stave off hail punctuated the late afternoon hours on many days. Overcast skies, cool temperatures and rain led growers to believe the year was shaping up as a repeat of 2002. But that didn’t happen. Rain in Barbaresco turned out to be a third of what fell in nearby Barolo. Hail damaged vineyards in Barolo three times that year, but miraculously skipped Barbaresco entirely. Warm days and cool, clear nights – ideal conditions for Nebbiolo – set in during September, leading to gradual ripening under the shorter days of fall. Cool, long, late-ripening seasons are considered ideal for the development of aromatics, color and fully ripe tannins, all signatures of the 2014 Barbarescos. Of course, growers had to be diligent with selection. Production is down about a third among quality-driven estates.