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la spinetta, barbaresco, valeirano vursu 2016
JAMES SUCKLING
94
VINOUS
95

2016 la spinetta, barbaresco, valeirano vursu

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Why We're Buying

La Spinetta Barbaresco Valeirano is a profoundly elegant red wine. It leads with phenomenal structure and aristocratic tannins before rounding out with touches of tea, balsamic, and minerality. La Spinetta only releases 7,000 of this Barbaresco each year.

Critics Scores

JAMES SUCKLING
94

James Suckling

Dark peaches, glazed cherries, Christmas cake, orange peel and wet earth. Full-bodied and very structured on the palate, where chewy tannins carry dried red berries long and spicy. Drink from 2023.

VINOUS
95

Vinous

The 2016 Barbaresco Vigneto Valeirano is the most refined wine I have tasted from this site in Treiso. The tannins, always forbidding in Valeirano, are wonderfully polished, and yet convey the essential feeling of structure that is such a central part of what makes Barbaresco so compelling as a wine. Dark wild cherry, incense, graphite, spice and dried flowers add shades of dimension to this virile, potent Barbaresco that captures the essence of this site, but with an added touch of sophistication that is quite welcome. I can’t wait to see how the 2016 ages. In a word: Superb!

ROBERT PARKER'S WINE ADVOCATE
95

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

Another wine of importance from La Spinetta, this is a well-structured and compact expression with lots of dark fruit and ripe berries buried within. The 2016 Barbaresco Valeirano Vürsù, sporting a fittingly hefty rhinoceros depicted on the front of the bottle, is heavier and denser than the others from this line. There are dry and astringent tannins, and like the pachyderm on the label, this wine will live to a ripe old age—if it isn't poached from the cellar beforehand. Some 7,000 bottles were made.

WINE SPECTATOR
94

Wine Spectator

Distinctive aromas of rose, black currant and raspberry mark this taut, intense red, which is sleek and firmly structured, with lively acidity and dusty tannins mingling with fruit, savory and mineral elements on the long aftertaste. Best from 2022 through 2038.