2022 &amp; 2023 Barbaresco: Pushed to the Limit

BY ANTONIO GALLONI | OCTOBER 28, 2025

Barbaresco faced two very challenging growing seasons in
2023 and 2022. Quality is inconsistent across the board. These are vintages in
which readers will have to be especially selective, but there are some
undeniable stars in both years.

<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1761667599226-Cantina+del+Pino_Vinous.jpg">Franca Miretti turned out a stellar set of wines at
Cantina del Pino. She is seen here during the 2025 harvest with Kiel, the dog
that belonged to her late husband, Renato Vacca.

The 2022 Growing Season &amp; Wines

Two thousand twenty-two pushed growers to the limit. The
year was marked by torrid heat and drought throughout the growing season. Conditions
remained remarkably consistent through to harvest. Canopies struggled.
Producers did what they could, starting by leaving some cover crop, but not
enough to compete with vines for water. Deleafing, once a standard practice,
was abandoned. Some producers reduced crop loads to give struggling vines the best chance possible to ripen their grapes. A few&nbsp;showers at the end of the growing season provided some relief. All that said, Barbaresco fared remarkably
well. In fact, from what I have tasted so far, there is a very good chance 2022
will be better in Barbaresco than in Barolo.

Last year, I wrote, “So far, I am impressed with the
2022s, given what looked like dire conditions during most of the year.
Unrelentingly hot, dry weather pushed vines to their maximum. I find the 2022s
texturally light, as if ripening just stopped at some point. At the same time,
the tannins are pretty soft and much less forbidding than I had expected, given
the weather.”

Further tastings of the 2022s confirm those early
impressions, although I can now add that the style of the wines varies considerably
from estate to estate. Some 2022 Barbarescos are on the lighter side, while
others are quite powerful. Not surprisingly, producers interpreted the vintage
very differently. The Produttori del Barbaresco will bottle their Riservas,
which by mandate requires that all nine wines be produced. Gaja bottled their
top selections as well, although in very small volumes. Sottimano, on the other
hand, did not bottle any Barbaresco in 2022.

<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1761667618655-Aldo+Vacca_Vinous.jpg">Aldo Vacca, the Produttori del Barbaresco’s longtime
Managing Director, is set to retire at the end of 2025. Vacca has taken the
Produttori to unprecedented heights of quality and recognition since he arrived
in 1991.

“It’s a year with thick skins and low juice yields,”
Managing Director Aldo Vacca explained at Produttori del Barbaresco. “Initially,
we expected more dilute wines. Instead, drought concentrated the fruit, perhaps
at the expense of some of the aromatic complexity of years like 2021 and 2016.
Skin-to-juice ratios were high. We used many of the better lots in 2022 for the
straight Barbaresco and will bottle a small amount of Riservas.” Gaia Gaja
echoed his thoughts. “We think the heat resulted in thick skins that served to
protect the juice,” she relayed. “At some point during the summer, the vines
stopped ripening and kept a level of acidity that remained through to a harvest
that benefited from a bit of rain in mid-August. We bottled all of our
single-vineyard Barbarescos, although production is less than half of 2021.” In
other instances, producers such as Francesco Rocca at Bruno Rocca and Marco
Rocca at La Ca’ Nova saw the vintage having a gentler equilibrium, as witnessed
in their decisions to conduct shorter fermentations and macerations.

More than anything else, I am shocked by how much site
character the 2022s express. Typically, intense heat and drought bake out
vineyard signatures. That is not at all the case with the 2022s. Naturally, the
wines don’t reach the profound levels of years like 2016 or 2021, but they put
in a more than respectable showing in this very critical area. 

On paper, 2022 looks something like 2003, and yet the wines
could not be more different. I suspect growers have become more accustomed to
extreme heat and drought over the last two decades, just as they have become gentler
in their farming and winemaking practices. “I think a lot of us learned from
2003,” Giorgio Rivetti opined at La Spinetta. “We did not deleaf, we dropped
crop so that the vine had a chance to ripen its fruit, and we benefited from
anti-hail netting, which also protected the grapes.” This last point is
important and may not be obvious, because the netting, originally
installed to protect against damage from hail, is now also being used as shade cloth,
a tool that is common in other regions around the world, most notably Napa
Valley, where it has made a significant difference in today’s climate-change-challenged
world.

In the cellar, producers opted to ferment on the cooler
side. Time on the skins, including submerged cap maceration (where practiced),
was lower than in the very best years. Many producers also opted to slightly
shorten time in barrel. The result is a vintage of generally soft wines of
irregular quality, but that also features a handful of true standouts. For all
but a few wines, 2022 looks like a vintage for near- to medium-term drinking.<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1761670727531-Barbaresco+Cover+Rombone_Vinous.jpg">Walking through Fiorenzo Nada’s Rombone vineyard just prior to the 2025 harvest.

A Deeper Dive on 2022: What Makes a Great Barbaresco
Vintage?

Over the last few years, I have shared a template for a
model of what I think makes a great vintage in Barolo and Barbaresco. It is, of
course, the sum of everything I have learned from many people, organized in a
way that I think makes sense. Unlike Bordeaux, Piedmont does not have an
established framework for what constitutes a high-quality, important vintage.
Clearly, many people have views, but I have never seen them codified. What
follows is my set of objective criteria necessary for a Barolo or Barbaresco
vintage to be considered truly great. This framework is inspired by the late
Denis Dubourdieu and the model he developed for assessing Bordeaux vintages. To
that, I add my 20-plus years of visiting Piedmont and all the data I have
collected in speaking with winemakers, agronomists and other professionals over
that time, plus drinking more than my fair share of the wines. As with
Dubourdieu’s model, this addresses the growing season and does not venture into
an assessment of the actual wines.Indeed, this model was created in the present day. It won’t
apply as well to vintages from previous eras, especially vintages from the
1950s-1970s. At that time, warm weather was considered quite favorable because
grapes struggled to ripen. The warmest vineyards, those that faced due south,
the famous sorís, were the most coveted. Today, you would be
hard-pressed to find a producer who believes that south-facing vineyards are
the most ideal. Last but certainly not least, with its varying elevations,
myriad exposures and different soil types, Piedmont is inherently complex. In
short, Piedmont is not a region that is intrinsically well suited to
generalizations. Even so, some information is better than none.

1.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
A Long Growing Season — A long growing
season, defined as the period from bud break to harvest, is essential for
achieving full physiological ripening of the fruit, skins and seeds. Since
Nebbiolo is already a very tannic grape, less-than-full physiological ripeness
is heavily penalizing. The 2022 growing season was marked by extreme heat
and drought the entire year. Producers left as much leaf cover as possible and
dropped fruit where they could in an effort to keep the plants stable. Harvest
was not shockingly early, given the conditions. Nevertheless, unprecedented hot
temperatures and lack of water mean that the first condition was not met.2.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
Diurnal Shifts — The final phase of ripening
must be accompanied by diurnal shifts, in other words, swings in temperature
from warm days to cool nights. Diurnal shifts create aromatic complexity, full
tannin and flavor development and color. Evening temperatures did not cool
down materially in the weeks before harvest. Thus, the second condition is not met.3.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
The Absence of Shock Weather Events — Frost
and hail can severely and irreparably damage the crop. Similarly, periods of
uninterrupted elevated heat can block maturation. The entire 2022 growing
season can be defined as a shock event, one marked by consistently hot
temperatures and drought, saved only somewhat by water reserves from the prior
year. The third condition is not met.4.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
Stable Weather During the Last Month — The
last month of the growing season makes the quality of the vintage. The weather
during this critical period of ripening did not present any material changes
from what was seen throughout the year. Conditions remained hot and parched,
but stable. Thus, the fourth condition is partly met.







5.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
A Late Harvest — Harvest must take place in
October (possibly late-September in some areas), with the final phase of
ripening occurring during the shorter days of late-September and October, as
opposed to the longer, hotter days of August. Most producers picked in the
middle of September through to October. Harvest was early for many estates, but
not as early as conditions might have suggested. The fifth condition is partly met.In conclusion, none of the conditions required for a good-to-great
vintage were entirely met. Not surprisingly, the average quality of the wines
is highly irregular. 

<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1761667739585-Francesco+and+Luisa+Rocca_Vinous.jpg">Francesco and Luisa Rocca presented a stellar set of
wines at the estate founded by their father, Bruno Rocca. They are among the
most dynamic producers in Barbaresco today.

2023 Barbaresco: A Vintage in Two Acts

Growers were treated to a whole different set of challenges
in 2023. The year was marked by consistent rain in May and June, which led to
elevated disease pressure. “In the last ten years, June has become the most
critical month of the year,” Andrea Sottimano explained. “It decides
everything. In some years, we get a lot of rain, in other years, rain is more
evenly distributed. The trick was to treat the vines early, in the spring and
early summer, when we had a period of consistent rain, using natural products
that protect the grapes and skins without altering their fundamental
chemistries. The challenge was getting to flowering in good shape. After that,
it was easy. We did not de-leaf and left normal yields on the vine to extend
the ripening season as long as possible to protect the vines during the intense
heat of the summer.”

A swath of hail on July 6 hit spots from Alba to Torino,
lowering yields and also setting up some vines for reduced production in 2024. From
there, conditions turned much warmer, especially during August, which saw 20
days of uninterrupted heat. Harvest was seven to ten days earlier than the
norm. In tasting, the 2023s come across as mid-weight wines with a good bit of
early and medium-term appeal. I generally find the tannins riper and more
polished than in 2022, suggesting the growing season offered better conditions
for physiological ripeness. Some wines show structural qualities that are consistent with&nbsp;elevated yields, while others&nbsp;are deeper and more expressive. Thus far, 2023 appears to be another vintage defined by irregular quality.&nbsp;

<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1761667760281-Sottimano_Vinous.jpg">Andrea and Rino Sottimano in their cold cellar in Neive.
Their 2023 Barbarescos are superb.

In Appreciation of Dolcetto, Barbera &amp; Langhe
Nebbiolo

Dolcetto, Barbera, Langhe Nebbiolo and other entry-level
bottlings are the foundational wines of Piedmont because they remain accessible
to a wide audience of consumers. These bottles provide terrific entry points
for wine lovers who want to learn more about the region and its growers,
especially younger consumers. They are also the wines that locals drink. This
report includes entry-level offerings from many properties, something I have
started to do to provide a complete look at top estates rather than culling out
entry-level wines for a separate article. Dolcetto, Barbera, Langhe Nebbiolo
and other reds are obviously not perfect substitutes for Barbaresco, but the
best wines offer superb value and character to match. 

Many new releases are 2024s, a tricky year with rain during
harvest. The 2024s are generally light-bodied, aromatic wines with lower
alcohols than the norm today. Nebbiolo seems to have fared best among
Piedmont’s indigenous red varieties. Dolcetto was impacted by a sudden burst of
cool weather before harvest, while Nebbiolo was able to hang through the rain. Readers
will find much more specific context within the accompanying reviews and
producer commentaries, as this is yet another vintage to approach on a
wine-by-wine basis.

Roero: Barbaresco’s Next Door Neighbor&nbsp;This report includes a handful of wines from Roero, which lies just across the
Tanaro River from Barbaresco. Every year, I taste quite a few wines that are
interesting, but not enough producers to merit a full and separate report,
hence their inclusion here. In prior generations, Roero was where producers
from Barolo and Barbaresco came to buy grapes. For many years, the best wines
were made by producers from those areas, like Luciano Sandrone and Bruno
Giacosa with their Nebbiolo d’Albas from Valmaggiore. A newer, younger
generation took over in the 1990s, determined to compete with the more famous
wines of their neighbors. Many producers sought to make big, powerful wines. It
was a natural choice at a time when wineries struggled for recognition. But
most of Roero is planted on sandier sites that are naturally suited to a more
refined style of wine. Today’s young winemakers have made important strides in
a move to exalt the natural characteristics of their sites, making Roero an
up-and-coming region that increasingly deserves attention.

I tasted all the wines in this report during a visit to
Barbaresco in September 2025, along with a few follow-up tastings in our New
York offices.© 2025, Vinous. No portion of this article may be copied, shared or redistributed without prior consent from Vinous. Doing so is not only a violation of our copyright but also threatens the survival of independent wine criticism.<hr> You Might Also Enjoy<a target="_blank" href="https://vinous.com/articles/barbaresco-the-stellar-2021s-surprising-2022s-oct-2024">Barbaresco: The Stellar 2021s &amp; Surprising 2022s</a>, Antonio Galloni, October 2024<a target="_blank" href="https://vinous.com/articles/barbaresco-s-soaring-2020s-2021s-oct-2023">Barbaresco’s Soaring 2020s &amp; 2021s</a>, Antonio Galloni, October 2023<a target="_blank" href="https://vinous.com/articles/piedmont-within-reach-dec-2022">Piedmont Within Reach</a>, Antonio Galloni, December 2022<a target="_blank" href="https://vinous.com/articles/focus-on-barbaresco-a-close-look-at-2019-2020-oct-2022">Focus on Barbaresco – A Close Look at 2019 &amp; 2020</a>, Antonio Galloni, October 2022<a target="_blank" href="https://vinous.com/articles/2018-2019-barbaresco-take-center-stage-feb-2022">2018 &amp; 2019 Barbaresco Take Center Stage</a>, Antonio Galloni, February 2022&nbsp;

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