2016 Barbaresco Rio Sordo
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Tasting notes
The 2016 Barbaresco Riserva Rio Sordo is powerful, earthy and gamy. I am not sure the fruit will outlast the tannins here. The presence of earthy notes suggest the 2016 is on a relatively fast aging curve. This is an unusually burly wine for a site that tends to produce Barbarescos with a bit more refinement than this.
Critic scores
Average Score
Walter Speller, jancisrobinson.com
James Suckling
More reviews and scores
The Ca' Rome' 2016 Barbaresco Rio Sordo opens to great aromatic intensity with dark fruit, dried cherry, licorice and crushed limestone. These classic traits are very in line with the vintage, and they reflect Nebbiolo from Barbaresco. The tannins are silky and firm, but they are also well integrated into the texture of the wine. The wine ages in barrique for eight months followed by 12 months in Slavonian oak, and this process adds to the volume and layering you get in Rio Sordo. Production for this vintage is 7,000 bottles.
The 2017 Barbaresco Rio Sordo is bright, fruity and absolutely delicious. Sweet red and purplish fruit, rose petal, lavender and mint are nicely pushed forward in this racy, sumptuous, yet mid-weight Barbaresco. There is a sense of immediacy to the 2017 that makes it absolutely irresistible.
This has a riper, earthier scent than most 2016 Barbarescos at this stage, trading in notes of leather, tar, tobacco and dried fruit. Itâs stocky and chunky, framing brambly, chewy tannins. Long and forthcoming on the finish. Drink from 2023.