2013 La Spinetta, Barbera d’Asti Superiore DOCG “Bionzo” Piedmonte, Italy.
Giorgio Rivetti’s La Spinetta Bionzo Cru Barbera d’Asti is a beauty with rich detail, full flavors and a kiss of sweet toasty oak, it’s a luxurious Barbera with a deep garnet/purple hue in the glass and a medium/full palate, it’s wine to take very, very seriously, it shows soul, length and lingering complex fruit, earth and spice. This 2013 shows the richness of the vintage and the understanding of the winemaking to highlight it, it’s crafted as if it was a ripe year Premier Cru or Grand Cru Burgundy rather than a typical rustic Barbera, Rivetti and his team carefully sorted the grapes here and raised this impressive wine in new medium toast French barriques from Bionzo’s 45-55 year old vines that are grown at over 1, 200 feet on calcareous soils, this site faces south and really delivers brilliant vitality and layers, especially in a year like this one, this is a Barbera that packs a punch and shows refined tannins that holds everything together in a graceful form. The 2013 is all about deep fruit, but there is subtle and charming mineral tones, mixed spices, mouth feel and inner perfume, it starts with crushed violets, black currant, cherry and blackberry along with chalky stones, anise, cinnamon, vanilla, cedar and mure. There’s a creamy opulence to the texture that gives a sense of density, but also a nice cut of natural acidity that sets the individual elements off in this Bionzo Barbera d’Asti Superiore, this is certainly not a shy wine and it’s a Barbera that can sit at any table with the likes of a Burgundy, Bordeaux or one of it’s cousins like a Barolo or Barbaresco and provide a thrilling experience, especially with robust cuisine, drink this special wine over the next 5 to 10 years. I love Barbera is all it’s styles from peasant/rustic to Cru class and this lavish example is clearly a modern classic from La Spinetta that was one of the first wineries to take Barbara to the next level, I’ve been a huge fan of La Spinetta since the mid nineties when I discovered their Barbera Gallina and the un-oaked Ca’ di Pian, before I could afford their Barbaresco Crus!
($54 Est.) 93 Points, grapelive
