2018 Barbaresco Vigneto Bordini

Giorgio Rivetti describes 2018 as a year with no excess heat and good diurnal shifts at the end of the season, which is a pretty charitable view of how things unfolded. As for the Barbarescos, the 2018s are terrific. Over the last few vintages Rivetti has moved away from the more full-throttle style of his earlier wines. That, along with the style of 2018 yielded a very pretty set of lithe, elegant Barbarescos. The wines go into barrel not totally dry and show some French oak inflections, but less so than in the past, especially now that there is some larger-format wood in the cellar. I also tasted the 2010 Riserva Barbarescos, wines that give excellent insight into the more pushed style of that era. The wines can be summarized more or less like this: 1) Bordini - the entry level; 2) Gallina - purity of fruit, sensuality and great aging capacity; 3) Starderi - intense red fruit with the power and breadth of Neive and 4) Valeirano -the linear drive and dark fruit/spice character of Treiso.