2003 Barbera d'Alba Pozzo dell'Annunziata Riserva
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Tasting notes
The 2003 Barbera Pozzo, from a tiny vineyard nestled between the snaking roads of La Morra's Annunziata district, is now fully mature. Ripe black cherries, plums, licorice, menthol and spices resonate on the racy, opulent finish. Barbera loves heat, and it got plenty of that in 2003.
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Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
Antonio Galloni, Vinous
More reviews and scores
(for 1.5 liters; 14.5% alcohol; aged in 40% new barriques for 18 months) Medium ruby-red. Extravagant aromas of currant, plum, bitter chocolate and spicy oak, with an impression of medicinal depth and a suggestion of the extreme ripeness of 2003. Full, lush and layered; a broad, rich barbera with extraordinary sweetness of fruit and mouth coverage. Huge for barbera. I can see why this was bottled in magnums: it couldn't be squeezed into a 750-ml. bottle. Finishes with superb length. These vines are planted at a very dense 10,500 per hectare, according to Bussolo, with each vine yielding just 450 grams of fruit. That works out to six plants per magnum, he told me.