2014 Barbaresco, Francesco Versio, Piedmont, Italy

2014 Barbaresco, Francesco Versio, Piedmont, Italy

Product: 20141387618
Prices start from £145.00 per case Buying options
2014 Barbaresco, Francesco Versio, Piedmont, Italy

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Available by the case In Bond. Pricing excludes duty and VAT, which must be paid separately before delivery. Storage charges apply.
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6 x 75cl bottle
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Description

The sign of a great winemaker is in their ability to create something delcious and expressive of place and variety regardless of the challenges that nature throws at them. This wine is a perfect example. Bright, energetic and lively, the fruit and acidity layer with ripe tannins. One for enjoying a little earlier, but delicious nonetheless. Drink from 2019+.
Katherine Dart MW, Wine Buyer


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Critics reviews

Jancis Robinson MW
Neive. Just mid ruby with orange tinges. A little backward yet full red fruit and maraschino cherry on the nose. Delicious, generous, supple red fruit with soft, bitter-sweet tannins. Gorgeously balanced and hugely enjoyable.
Walter Speller, jancisrobinson.com. 3rd May 2017.  Read more

About this WINE

Francesco Versio

Francesco Versio

Ambitious, tireless, and naturally gifted, Francesco graduated in 2009 from Turin University, specialising in viticulture and viniculture. He worked briefly at Terre del Barolo in the heart of Barolo Cannubi, before joining Bruno Giacosa as cellar hand. Testament to Francesco’s sensitivity and strength as a winemaker, he was promoted to winemaker in June 2011; rarely is such a prominent position held by such a young talent. Francesco left in 2017 and is now head winemaker at Figli Luigi Oddero.

Alongside his day job, since 2013 Francesco makes tiny quantities of his own wines from his family’s small vineyard holding in his hometown Neive. Here, they have two small plots of old vines: San Cristoforo and Currà, facing southwest overlooking the village of Barbaresco.

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Barbaresco

Barbaresco

The Piedmontese DOCG zone of Barbaresco is responsible for producing some of Italy’s finest wines. It occupies the same region and uses the same grape (Nebbiolo) as its bigger brother Barolo, but is a third of the size (only 640 hectares versus Barolo’s 1,700 hectares). It is also 50 years younger than Barolo, having produced wine labelled Barbaresco since 1890.

Barbaresco earned its DOCG after Barolo in 1980, largely thanks to the efforts of Angelo Gaja. The soils are lighter here than in Barolo – both in colour and weight – and more calcareous. The slopes are also less favourably situated and (relatively speaking) yield earlier-maturing yet extremely elegant wines that require less oak ageing (normally one year in oak plus six months in bottle). The appellation’s key districts are Barbaresco, Treiso, Neive and Alba.

Recommended producers: Cigliuti, Gaja, Marchesi di Gresy

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Nebbiolo

Nebbiolo

Nebbiolo is the grape behind the Barolo and Barbaresco wines and is hardly ever seen outside the confines of Piedmont. It takes its name from "nebbia" which is Italian for fog, a frequent phenomenon in the region.

A notoriously pernickety grape, it requires sheltered south-facing sites and performs best on the well-drained calcareous marls to the north and south of Alba in the DOCG zones of Barbaresco and Barolo.

Langhe Nebbiolo is effectively the ‘second wine’ of Piedmont’s great Barolo & Barbarescos. This DOC is the only way Langhe producers can declassify their Barolo or Barbaresco fruit or wines to make an early-drinking style. Unlike Nebbiolo d’Alba, Langhe Nebbiolo can be cut with 15% other red indigenous varieties, such as Barbera or Dolcetto.

Nebbiolo flowers early and ripens late, so a long hang time, producing high levels of sugar, acidity and tannins; the challenge being to harvest the fruit with these three elements ripe and in balance. The best Barolos and Barbarescos are perfumed with aromas of tar, rose, mint, chocolate, liquorice and truffles. They age brilliantly and the very best need ten years to show at their best.

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