Barbaresco 2016 & 2017 – A Tale of Two Vintages

BY ANTONIO GALLONI | NOVEMBER 07, 2019 

Piedmont fans will find plenty of new releases in the market this fall. The 2016s confirm all of the promise they have always shown. It is a stunning, brilliant vintage across the board. Mother Nature was not as kind in 2017, a year that is going to require a much more selective approach.

Bruno and Danilo Nada made some of the most compelling 2016s in Barbaresco

2016…It’s a Wrap

Releases are always staggered in Barbaresco. I reviewed a number of 2016s last year, and complete my coverage of the wines this report. Just as I had expected, 2016 has turned out to be a truly magnificent vintage. Last year, I wrote, "The 2016s, wines from a potentially historic vintage, may very well put Barbaresco on the map big time. As I traveled from producer to producer, I experienced that sense of excitement and energy I always feel when in the presence of important vintages and wines." I feel exactly the same way today.

"It is hard to say what normal is these days," Bruno Nada told me. "But in 37 harvests I have never seen a year with no heat spikes, rain at just the right moments and low humidity. The real challenge was keeping yields from being too high.” One of the things I remember most about 2016 was the extraordinary luminosity of the summer and the low humidity, which, among other things, yielded spectacularly clear views of the countryside that are far more typical of winter. The late harvest, in October, yielded Barbarescos of extraordinary aromatic intensity, depth and structure that will repay cellaring. Moreover, the wines are deeply expressive of site, which, in my view, is one of the pre-requisites for a truly great Piedmont vintage.