1999 Barbaresco Riserva Rabajà 

The Produttori's 1999 Riservas have held up quite well and pretty much inline with my expectations, although to be honest, this has never been a Produttori vintage I have personally been excited about. Since these wines were made, the Produttori have made significant strides in quality that now place them among Piedmont's top wineries. The 1999 Riservas belong to an earlier era.

This recent tasting provided a great opportunity to compare the Produttori’s single-vineyard 1999 Riservas side-by-side. As I reported in Issue 1 of Piedmont Report, the Produttori del Barbaresco cooperative has focused on single vineyard Barbarescos since its inception in 1958. Although Nebbiolo is a prized grape today, that wasn’t always the case. The Produttori were well ahead of their time in the late 1950s. Readers should note that as part of their charter, the Produttori either bottle all of their Riservas in a given vintage, or none at all.

Winemaking remains very much traditional. My sense is that the wines have increasingly become more consistent in recent years as the Produttori have increased the standards they require of their member-growers in the field and also made significant upgrades in the cellar, including replacing many of their older botti. Best of all, the Produttori Riservas remain some of the most reasonably priced, age-worthy wines made anywhere in the world.

Managing Director Aldo Vacca is very high on the vintage, saying “I think 1999 is an extraordinary vintage very much in the classic style. I would have to go back to 1971 to find a vintage that combines such ripe fruit, structure, and aging potential.” Speaking of more recent vintages Vacca says “1999 combines the structure of 1989 with the ripeness of 1990.”

The growing season was characterized by cool weather, which allowed the grapes to mature gradually. “When the grapes ripen in the fall the differences between the various vineyards are quite evident, whereas in warmer vintages such as 2000, the differences are somewhat less obvious,” explains Vacca. Speaking of drinking windows Vacca says “of the 1999s our most accessible wines today are Pora and Rio Sordo due to the more fertile soils in those vineyards. Montestefano is also drinking very well, as the wine is somewhat uncharacteristic in that it has so much fruit that the tannins are covered.” Vacca goes on to describe Montefico as the most structured of the Riservas, while Rabajà and Ovello are the “freshest, and in need of quite a bit of time.”

The more forward 1999 Riservas can be enjoyed now with some decanting, but I expect that the majority of these wines will start to become expressive at about age ten and with good storage can last 20 years or more. Picking favorites out of this group is virtually impossible as the wines are all excellent, even if they don’t reach the heights of the Produttori’s very finest wines.

My ratings reflect a personal preference for wines of structure and aging potential, but readers should not hesitate in trying any of these very fine examples of classic Barbaresco. Wines are listed in the order tasted, which was random. The wines were tasted blind.

Originally published in Produttori del Barbaresco: The 1999 Riservas, Piedmont Report, Issue 2, April 2005

Commercial director Aldo Vacca noted that the release of this superb co-operative's 1999 Barbaresco crus was well received by the market following the Produttori's decision not to offer any cru bottlings in 1998. Both the '99 and '01 crops here were small and relatively late, noted Vacca, who told me that both of these harvests took place largely during the second week of October. The '99s are dense wines with powerful fruit, said Vacca, while the '01s are more elegant and lead with their sweetness. Vintage 2000 saw a crop level of around three tons per acre, which he described as "a regular size. "Incidentally, this co-operative recently purchased 20 new 35-hectoliter and 10 new 25-hectoliter casks made from Allier oak, and the 1999 vintage was the first one to make some use of these barrels. But the Produttori continues to use its traditional larger casks (of 55 and 75 hectoliters) from Slavonian oak. The Produttori wines continue to be some of the best available bargains in Barbaresco. Although the U. S. is the co-op's most important export market, accounting for about 15% of total production, fully 55% of the wines are sold in Italy.