Produttori del Barbaresco - Barbaresco Rabajà Riserva 2017 (750ml)
Price: $81.00
| Producer | Produttori del Barbaresco |
| Country | Italy |
| Region | Piedmont |
| Varietal | Nebbiolo |
| Vintage | 2017 |
| Sku | 1557294 |
| Size | 750ml |
Wine Advocate: 96+ Points
The Produttori del Barbaresco 2017 Barbaresco Riserva Rabajà is another spectacular release from this cooperative winery that hits it out of the ballpark with each set of new releases. That impressive track record includes this wine that delivers extreme focus depth and integrity. The bouquet is very clear cut with dark cherry tart plum spice and blood orange but it is also complex and fluid. It offers new perspectives with each swirl of the glass. From a hot vintage the Rabajà is smooth powerful and balanced. I would bet on long aging for this bottle. 14438 bottles were produced. 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."
Wine Enthusiast: 95 Points
This fragrant full-bodied red has aromas of iris woodland berry dark spice and cedar. Firmly structured but also showing finesse the savory palate exhibits fleshy raspberry ripe black cherry and licorice framed in tightly knit fine-grained tannins. Best from 2024 to 2029. KERIN O?KEEFE
Wine Spectator: 95 Points
Dense featuring fruit flavors of plum cherry and raspberry with accents of tar eucalyptus and iron. A powerful red that needs time to resolve the muscular tannins with plenty of ripe fruit coursing underneath. Best from 2026 through 2043. ?B.S.
Vinous: 94 Points
The 2017 Barbaresco Riserva Rabajà is a potent searingly tannic wine that will need a few years to come together. Brooding and backward even for young Rabajà the 2017 is painfully young today. It will be interesting to see what time brings. Today the 2017 is a real powerhouse. Black fruit menthol licorice melted road tar game and menthol develop in the glass but only with great reluctance. - By Antonio Galloni on September 2021 Aldo Vacca and his team at the Produttori del Barbaresco cooperative continue to turn out gorgeous wines that deliver a remarkable combination of quality and value. This year's releases include the 2017 Riservas and the 2018 Barbaresco. "Frost and drought were challenges in 2017 but not excessively so" Vacca told me. "It was an early harvest but conditions at the end of the season were quite favorable. We were more worried about drought than heat. In the end we found the requisites to make our Riservas but production for all the wines is lower than normal. Two thousand eighteen is another story. Disease pressure was high throughout the year. There were some diurnal shifts at the end of the season then a week where temperatures warmed before cooling again. The wines lacked color and depth relative to stronger vintages." In tasting the 2017 Riservas are certainly very good wines. As often happens in warm years the differences between vineyard sites are less marked than they are in cooler vintages like 2014 and 2016. The tannins are also less polished. Time will help to some degree but the wines will always show the personality of the vintage. Time on the skins was four weeks (as opposed to five for the 2016s) with submerged cap maceration at the end. Aging was done entirely in cask.
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