2020 Produttori del Barbaresco Riserva Pora, Piedmont

Opens with bold spicy notes of cardamom before a potpourri of meadow flowers and sandalwood join in. Summer berries flood the palate, popping with juicy freshness. Some grainy tannins tug around the edges, but this is quite suave overall. All nine of the Produttori’s cru Riservas were bottled last June and released in early March this year. Sitting next to Asili, Pora approaches the Tanaro River, making for a richer, more fertile soil.

93 points Michaela Morris decanter.com

The 2020 Barbaresco Riserva Pora is aromatic, effusive and quite charming. Crushed flowers, spice, leather, tobacco and cedar lend notable inner sweetness. Medium in body and gracious, the Pora is pretty approachable today, although it will be better with a few years in bottle. This is a very beautiful, vivid Pora and a fine introduction to the Riservas.

93 points Antonio Galloni vinous.com

This is the first wine served in a flight of nine that increase in intensity and power moving forward. The Produttori del Barbaresco 2020 Barbaresco Riserva Pora opens to a medium-light color with garnet highlights. Aromas include wild cherry, cassis and blue flower. You also get hints of crushed limestone. The Pora vineyard is near the Tanaro River Valley, where warm air accumulates, and the vines are planted in fertile soils. The extra heat and humidity of the area makes for accessible wines that are ready to drink and are less complex overall.

93 points Monica Larner robertparker.com

Produttori del Barbaresco Riserva Pora from Piedmont is a beautifully open knit and charming single vineyard Nebbiolo that captures the softer, more immediately inviting side of Barbaresco while still offering the structure and depth that collectors prize. Part of the highly sought after Riserva series made only in exceptional vintages, Pora consistently sells out quickly thanks to its combination of early approachability, classic style, and serious ageing potential.

The Pora vineyard lies just outside the historic village of Barbaresco itself, facing southwest towards the Tanaro River. Its proximity to the river moderates temperatures slightly, allowing for a longer, more even ripening season. The soils are limestone rich with a significant proportion of sand, producing wines that are fragrant, supple, and full of bright fruit character. Pora’s wines are known for their accessibility in youth compared to some of the more austere crus, though they can still mature beautifully for decades.

Produttori del Barbaresco, founded in 1958, remains one of Italy’s greatest cooperatives and a benchmark for traditionally made Nebbiolo. Their nine single vineyard Riservas, including Pora, are produced using extended macerations in concrete and aged for thirty six months in large Slavonian oak casks to highlight the terroir and character of each individual site.

In the glass, Produttori del Barbaresco Riserva Pora opens with aromas of red cherry, strawberry, rose petal, sweet herbs, and subtle spice. The palate is medium bodied and graceful with juicy red fruits, gentle tannins, bright acidity, and a savoury earthy note that lingers through a long, elegant finish. It is a wine that offers immediate charm but will also develop secondary complexity of leather, dried flowers, and truffle with time in the cellar.

Perfect with roast duck, veal with sage, mushroom polenta, or a plate of aged Pecorino, Pora is a classic, versatile Barbaresco that delivers great drinking pleasure whether opened young or after a decade or more of careful ageing.