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• Score: 95 Vintage 2017 Wine Advocate The Produttori del Barbaresco 2017 Barbaresco Riserva Montefico is especially broad and thick in texture. It feels generous to the senses, wrapping thickly over the palate with a pretty mix of firm tannins and soft fruit fiber. These elements help to increase both the volume and the persistence of this classic wine. There is some dryness on the finish (and 15% alcohol), and you also taste crushed mineral and stone. Production is 10,000 bottles. I give this wine an edge in terms of future aging potential. Produttori del Barbaresco has been hitting it out of the ballpark these past years with a string of excellent vintages that resulted in the production of their entire line of Riservas. However, that good momentum comes to an end because the Riservas were not made in 2018. That vintage saw all the fruit blended into one non-MGA Barbaresco. And with the 2017 Riservas reviewed here, you might find these bottles hard to find. Production was 30% lower in this growing season because of a very careful fruit selection process. In fact, Aldo Vacca calls 2017 a "roller coaster vintage with frost, then hail, then a summer drought." Shelf Talker Full Page Review
• Score: 95 Vintage 2017 Vinous Media The 2017 Barbaresco Montefico is one of the stand-outs in this range. It shows the piercing tannins typical of this site, and yet has more than enough fruit to balance those tannins, certainly moreso than wines like the Rabajà. This exposed site benefits from cooling winds from the north, clearly a benefit in 2017. Even in the early going, the balance here is terrific. In 2017, the Montefico is one of the clear stand outs in the range. Shelf Talker Full Page Review
• Score: 94 Vintage 2017 Wine Spectator Marked by plum and menthol, this also has elements of iron, tar and tobacco. Muscular and brooding, with a strong grip of tannins on the finish. Best from 2026 through 2043. Shelf Talker Full Page Review
• Score: 94 Vintage 2017 Wine Enthusiast Cedar, truffle, scorched earth and a whiff of blue violet form the nose along with ripe berry. Full-bodied and structured, the palate offers raspberry jam, black cherry, cake spice and star anise alongside taut tannins. Shelf Talker Full Page Review
• Score: 98 Vintage 2016 Vinous Media The 2016 Barbaresco Montefico is a jewel of a wine. Freshly cut flowers, minerals, crushed rocks, rose petal and lavender are all finely cut. As always, the Montefico is tense and chiseled in style. Its sense of transparency is simply beguiling. Sage, mint and sweet pipe tobacco are some of the nuances that linger. The Montefico is a Barbaresco that will thrill readers who enjoy taut reds. It blends the fruit richness of the Montestefano with the verve of Ovello. Shelf Talker Full Page Review
• Score: 97 Vintage 2016 Wine Advocate This Riserva pours from the bottle with a medium dark appearance, showing more color saturation and fruit concentration than the other wines in this series. The Produttori del Barbaresco 2016 Barbaresco Riserva Montefico (with 10,136 bottles released) is a wine of power and density, and you sense this clearly in the aromatic determination and heft delivered here. (Like the other Riservas in this group, it clocks in at a 15% alcohol content.) The fruit tones veer toward dark purple and black, with plum and wild blackberries. There are earthy tones as well, with potting soil and iron ore. This wine plays its cards of volume and width with an expert hand, thanks to a blend of fruit from the vineyards of the Casetta, Grasso, Rocca and Vacca families. Shelf Talker Full Page Review
• Score: 96 Vintage 2016 Wine Spectator There is some weight and richness to this red, allied to cherry and plum flavors. Flourishing notes of iron, tobacco and black pepper add detail, while the dusty, nervous tannins emerge on the long finish. Shows more structure today, yet this has all the components in the right place. Best from 2025 through 2047. 1,388 cases made, 350 cases imported. Shelf Talker Full Page Review
• Score: 90 Vintage 2016 Wine Enthusiast Dark spice, camphor and forest floor aromas mingle together in the glass with a whiff of graphite. The burly palate is rather lean on fruit richness, offering dried cherry, steeped prune and star anise alongside close-grained tannins that grip the close. You’ll also notice the warmth of evident alcohol Shelf Talker Full Page Review
• Score: 96 Vintage 2015 Wine Enthusiast Balsamic aromas of camphor and new leather mingle with scorched earth and mature black-skinned berry on this full-bodied red. Mirroring the nose, the enveloping palate delivers ripe Marasca cherry, black raspberry and licorice alongside tightly knit, fine-grained tannins before a hazelnut close. Drink 2022–2030. Shelf Talker Full Page Review
• Score: 95 Vintage 2015 Wine Advocate The Produttori del Barbaresco 2015 Barbaresco Riserva Montefico boasts a solid center of gravity with dark fruit, plum, spice and spent embers. Everything about this wine is sultry, velvety and succulent. It goes to follow that the wine's structure is more pronounced, contoured and shapely. This Riserva delivers more sheer fruit weight (in the context of the always elegant Nebbiolo grape) that is carried with grace and poise throughout. Some 16,666 bottles were released. Shelf Talker Full Page Review
• Score: 94 Vintage 2015 Wine Spectator This is supple and expressive, featuring strawberry, cherry, floral and freshly cut hay flavors on an elegant frame, undergirded by a stiff backbone of tannins, with racy acidity and a finish that melds the ripe fruity component with the structure. Tar, tobacco and licorice accents linger. Best from 2023 through 2045. 1,336 cases made, 275 cases imported Shelf Talker Full Page Review
• Score: 94 Vintage 2015 Wine Spectator Savory notes of salty licorice and eucalyptus combine with cherry, plum and tar flavors in this beefy red, which is broad, maintaining a sense of freshness, with ripe tannins that are well-integrated and balanced. The savory note echoes on the finish. Best from 2023 through 2045. 1,388 cases made, 250 cases imported. Shelf Talker Full Page Review
• Score: 93 Vintage 2015 Vinous Media The 2015 Barbaresco Riserva Montefico is powerful, intense and very much wound up. Then again, we are talking about Montefico. It's hard not to think the 2015 will be a more complete and engaging wine in time. Today, though, energy and tension dominate. Time in the glass brings out hints of sweet red cherry, mint, tobacco, wild herbs and crushed flowers, all with supporting beams of Montefico tannin. The 2015 is going to need at least a few years to be at its best. Even when that happens, though, the Montefico will be a wine of vintage more than site. Shelf Talker Full Page Review
• Score: 97 Vintage 2014 Wine Enthusiast Wild berry, fragrant blue flower, baking spice and a balsamic note of menthol shape the nose. Structured and focused, the tense palate delivers juicy red cherry, raspberry compote, star anise and cinnamon while taut, fine-grained tannins and bright acidity provide the backbone. It has a youthfully austere finish that promises great aging potential. Drink 2022–2036. KERIN O’KEEFE Shelf Talker Full Page Review
• Score: 94 Vintage 2014 Wine Advocate The 2014 Barbaresco Riserva Montefico shows a darkly concentrated appearance and full-bodied appeal that is immediately obvious to all the senses, from eyes to nose to mouth. The wine is soft, round and thickly textured. I would have expected more acidity in these wines, but this vintage, at least, offers more sweet and dense fruit instead. You could taste it in its youth with a goose-liver pâté, or cellar it for a couple of years and see where it goes Shelf Talker Full Page Review