2003 Barbaresco Vigneto Gallina

Giorgio Rivetti and French enologist Stephano Mazzetta make richly-textured modern-styled wines that at their best offer tremendous opulence and seamlessness. Yields are low and the house style emphasizes super-ripe fruit and a lavish use of new oak, as all the wines see 100% new oak each year. Like every other producer in the region Rivetti struggled with the intense heat of 2003. His Barbarescos show the characteristics of the vintage in their unusually light colors and hard, green tannins. The estate's new releases include also include several Riserva bottlings which are made from the best-exposed parcels within the estate's Barolo and Barbaresco vineyards. These wines see slightly longer fermentation times than the regular releases as well as extended ageing in 100% new oak and are bottled only in magnums.