2017 Barbaresco Pajore

With fruit from Treiso, this wine is often recognized by its immediate and accessible personality, with silky tannins and delicate floral aromas. The Sottimano family farms five separate vineyard sites in the appellation. The 2017 Barbaresco Pajoré is a little more subdued in this vintage with a wide assortment of earthy, wild fruit and licorice aromas. This expression offers a lower threshold on the aromatic high points. However, the palate is more elaborate and constructed in this vintage with firm, free-standing tannins that give lift and buoyancy. Some 5,000 bottles were made.

The 2017 Barbaresco Pajorè is a pretty big departure from what readers have come to expect here. Slender in feel, the 2017 does not have the size or aromatic breadth that are the signatures of Pajorè , one of the very top sites in Barbaresco. Red cherry, blood orange, chalk and mint all open up in the glass, and yet the 2017 remains unusually compact. Perhaps I caught the 2017 on a bad day. We will see.