2005 Barbaresco Riserva Pora

Produttori del Barbaresco's Aldo Vacca is among the producers who believe that climate change has resulted in wines that drink better at an earlier age than was the norm a generation ago. To be sure, farming and winemaking have also changed, which makes that view less blasphemous than it would have seemed a generation ago to Nebbiolo lovers. The 2005s and 2004s are in a very good place now. Overall, the 2004s I tasted have more finesse and pedigree than the 2005s, but the 2005s have a very distinctive if slightly unpolished vein of tannin that might help the wines last longer in the cellar. Even so, I don't think the 2005s will match the finesse of the 2004s. All that said, the Produttori did quite well in both vintages.

x000D x000D In a worldwide recession, the recent string of excellent vintages in the Piedmont has provided a challenge for this excellent co-operative, which made the full range of Barbaresco cru bottlings in vintages 2004 and 2005 and has a very strong set of 2007s in the barrel as well. At the time of my visit, commercial director Aldo Vacca was not sure whether the Produttori would release a set of cru bottlings from the 2006 vintage. He described the wines as "fleshy and easy to enjoy" but wondered whether they would have enough complexity for the long run. And no matter what the quality of the vintage here, this co-op has never faced the challenge of selling four consecutive "declared" vintages. In my coverage in this issue I have provided notes on the full set of 2004s, which I tasted in finished form for the first time in September, as well as the 2005s, which will be released in 2010 (all the crus here are released late and labeled as riserva). Vacca describes 2004 as a classic vintage: "on the elegant side, with medium body and less power than '99 or '96 but more silkiness than those years. But they are also precise and ageworthy, and not soft. Two thousand five is a pleasant surprise," he went on. "We finished before the third rainy period, but we still picked in a rush. The wines are a bit rougher than the more refined 2004s but they have spine and penetration and should age for a long time." With their definition, structure and cooler minerality the 2005s remind him of the '99s, which he believes are the best set of wines produced by the Produttori since 1971. The Produttori Barbarescos remain popular in the market because they are classically made wines that offer an excellent opportunity to compare the styles and merits of nine crus in the same village.

The Produttori del Barbaresco have another set of wonderful wines on their hands with these new releases. The Produttori have long made delicious, ageworthy Barbarescos, but in the last few years the overall level of quality and consistency has gone up several notches. Best of all, prices have remained exceedingly fair. The 2005 Riservas are worthy successors to the magical 2004s. The 2005 have more overt fruit than the 2004s but lack the explosive, layered quality that defines so many of the wines of that magical harvest. Still, these fine, traditionally built Barbarescos deserve serious attention. The estate's fans will be delighted to learn that Riservas are planned for the 2006, 2007 and 2008 vintages. Readers who want to learn more about the Produttori may want to revisit my article on this site for notes on a number of the estate's legendary, benchmark wines.