A solid and powerful Barbaresco with fantastic depth of fruit and layers of tannins. Full and so deep and focused, with great length and structure. Bark, berry, mineral and deep terroir and gravitas. Try after 2027.
97 points jamessuckling.com
Fruit for this wine comes from the Bricco di Treiso MGA and immediately shows more softness and textural definition. The 2019 Barbaresco Il Bricco is layered and rich with black fruit, spice, tar and a sweet hint of cinnamon. Il Bricco offers more overall power and structure for longer cellar aging. Pairing possibilities include wintery foods. Production is exactly 7,186 bottles, with larger formats as well.
94+ points ML robertparker.com
The Pio Cesare family’s unique winemaking method stresses minimal intervention to produce wines of particularly supple flavor expression. A ceaseless devotion to the individuality of each of the region’s wines informs Pio Cesare's choices in the cellar: shorter maceration, separate lot fermentation, judicious selection for barrel and large cask aging, and bottling schedules determined by the ideal structure of each wine. This allows Pio Cesare to craft wines of varying weight, ageability and drinkability as determined by the vineyard rather than market fashion.
This wine is a single-vineyard Barbaresco using very ripe grapes from several plots in the famous Il Bricco estate owned by the Pio Cesare family. While soils in surrounding villages are sandy, the Il Bricco vineyard is primarily composed of limestone and clay. In the Piemontese dialect, Il Bricco translates to "peak of the hill." Reaching 400 meters above sea level, this estate is characterized by cool weather and important diurnal swings—both favorable conditions for the ripening of the Nebbiolo grape.
Winemaking
Fermentation takes place in stainless steel tanks, with 15 days of skin contact. This wine ages in French oak for 30 months: 70 percent in new barriques and 30 percent in 20-hectoliter casks. It is produced in small quantities and only in excellent vintages.
Tasting Notes
A traditional vintage delivering fresh fruits and beautiful aromas, with great structure and complexity, intense color and a balanced acidity, with sharp tannins but already approachable—all the classic components of the great outstanding vintages of Barbaresco.
Harvest Notes
The family started picking Nebbiolo in the Barbaresco region on October 10th at the Rocche di Massalupo vineyard, located in one of most premium districts of Alba: San Rocco Seno d’Elvio. The harvest continued at the family's historical historic estate, Il Bricco di Treiso. October 16th concluded the 2019 harvest in the last vineyard sites in Treiso (San Stunet and Bongiovanni).
