2019 Piero Busso Albesani Vigna Borgese Organic Barbaresco, Piedmont

“The 2019 Barbaresco Albesani Vigna Borgese is another terrific wine in this range from Piero Busso. Ample and expressive, with terrific depth, the 2019 offers up copious dark red fruit, blood orange and sweet spice tobacco. Firm tannins wrap it all together. The Borgese offers an appealing mix of ripe, racy fruit and mid-weight structure.” ;

93 points, Antonio Galloni, Vinous 

Inviting aromas of sandalwood, blue flower, resin and mocha come to the forefront. The aromas follow through to the savory, rounded palate along with dried cherry, anisette and ground clove. It's polished and accessible, with fine-grained tannins. It closes on the warmth of alcohol. Drink through 2028 

92 points Kerin O’ Keefe winemag.com

Busso bottles two cuvées from his 1.2 hectares of vines in the Albesani cru (the other is the Viti Vecchie offered below). On the western hills above Neive, Albesani is one of the shining stars of Barbaresco. In his Barbaresco MGA, Masnaghetti writes that here, “…the combination of soil, stature and exposure creates one of the greatest vineyards of the Langhe”. The vines were planted between 30 and 70 years ago at 260 metres above sea level on soils of limestone, clay and marl with an ideal southwest exposure. This was naturally fermented in tank, then aged in 25-hectolitre cask for 26 months.
 
Again, this is old-school classic in terms of its fruit profile and structure. It’s medium- to full-bodied, with sweet fruit suggesting fresh plum with hints of leather, honey and iodine complexity, clove and nutmeg spice and a cool freshness. It’s intense yet elegant, with flesh and complexity. Lovely stuff.