2021 La Ca' Növa Barbaresco Montefico Vigna Bric Mentina, Piedmont

The 2021 Barbaresco Montefico Vigna Bric Mentina is a classic. Crushed flowers, salt, white pepper, rose petal and lavender race across the palate. Just bottled, the 2021 is quite nervous, but it conveys striking energy and translucent finesse. The aromatics alone are beguiling. All this needs is time. In other words, it is classic Montefico.

97 points Antonio Galloni vinous.com

The La Ca’ Növa Barbaresco Montefico Vigna Bric Mentina is a single-vineyard Nebbiolo that captures the elegance and power of one of Barbaresco’s most esteemed crus. The Rocca family, custodians of La Ca’ Növa, have quietly built a reputation for producing some of the region’s most authentic and terroir-driven wines. Their holdings in Montefico and Montestefano are among the jewels of the estate, and the Bric Mentina parcel within Montefico is particularly renowned for yielding wines of aromatic lift, precision and age-worthiness.

Montefico sits on the hillside just outside the village of Barbaresco, with calcareous marl and veins of clay that give Nebbiolo both structure and minerality. The Roccas adhere to a traditional winemaking approach: hand-harvesting, long macerations to extract fine tannins, and ageing in large Slavonian oak casks rather than new barriques. This allows the vineyard’s identity to shine, delivering a wine that balances perfume with backbone.

In the glass, it shows a bright garnet colour. The nose is beautifully complex, with rose petal, violet and dried herbs layered over red cherry, raspberry and wild strawberry, accented by hints of licorice, leather and spice. On the palate it is medium to full-bodied, elegant yet structured, with ripe red fruits framed by firm but refined tannins and vibrant acidity. The finish is long, savoury and mineral, leaving a lasting impression of purity and finesse.

Food pairings highlight its elegance and structure: braised veal shank, roast duck, lamb shoulder with rosemary, or vegetarian dishes such as truffle risotto, porcini mushroom pasta or roasted root vegetables. The Vigna Bric Mentina has excellent cellaring potential, capable of ageing gracefully for 15 to 20 years, developing haunting complexity with notes of tobacco, dried roses and forest floor.