1996 Bruno Giacosa Barbaresco Asili Riserva Red Label
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Tasting notes
The 1996 Barbaresco Riserva Asili is just starting to show the first signs of aromatic development. It is both elegant, but also quite powerful, in the style of the year. Spice, leather, tobacco and incense lend notable aromatic presence. (AG)
Critic scores
Robert Parker
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
More reviews and scores
The utterly perfect, dense ruby/purple-colored 1996 Barbaresco Riserva Asili is a heroic offering brilliantly displaying both power and elegance. The bouquet develops incrementally, offering up aromas of black raspberries, cherries, cigar box, licorice, and leather. The wine impresses with its nuances as well as its extraordinarily rich, dense mid-palate, and a finish that lasts nearly a minute. There is huge tannin, but equally massive concentration, extract, and overall harmony. Anticipated maturity: 2006-2025. A Leonardo Locascio Selection, Winebow, Hohokus, NJ; tel. (201) 445-0620
Saturated ruby-red color. Knockout nose combines plum liqueur, cherry, dried rose and menthol; complex, vibrant and perfumed. Then extremely young and sharply focused, with powerful acid spine and tannic backbone giving the superbly sweet, thoroughly ripe flavors great cut and thrust. But this extremely dense Barbaresco is still an infant. Smoke and animal notes add complexity. Finishes with huge, sweet, molar-coating tannins and explosive length. This classically styled Barbaresco has all the components for greatness.
About the producer
Bruno Giacosa – now run by daughter Bruna – is a cult Nebbiolo producer, that has consistently made some of the best single-vineyard Barbaresco and Barolo from the 1960s onwards. The“red-label” Riservas are some of the finest and most collectable wines in Italy.