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The third most collected wine of Italy, Barbaresco DOCG is commonly referred to as a junior Barolo: where Barolo is king, Barbaresco is queen. Certainly, it’s easy to invite such comparisons; Nebbiolo serves as the basis for both wines, and their two regions abut. Barbaresco DOCG occupies the townships of Barbaresco, Treiso, Neive, and a bit of Alba--and it’s this last village that separates Barbaresco from Barolo DOCG. Compared to the terroir of Barolo, that of Barbaresco is slightly cooler, slightly more elevated, slightly more in the path of ocean breezes, and slightly higher in concentration of limestone in the soil. But what a big difference a collection of slight differences can make, and this group of slender disparities create the unique Barbaresco.

While Barbaresco is a relatively new phenomenon on the wine scene, it has actually been around for centuries--Livy mentions it in his History of Rome. However, while wines called Barbaresco have popped up in favorable historical mentions from Livy’s day to the eighteenth century, they were entirely unlike the Barbaresco of today. These wines were slightly fizzy, somewhat sweet, and a far cry from the dry, plummy, aromatic Barbaresco first created by enologist Professor Domizio Cavazza in the late nineteenth century. In many ways, it is Cavazza whom we have to thank for modern Barbaresco. In this chilly region, Nebbiolo’s fermentation was often slowed or halted because of cold weather, leaving a lot of residual sugar; in an effort to find a way to completely ferment the wines, Cavazza discovered heat fermentation and created a completely dry Barbaresco.

Barbaresco still lurked in the shadows of its more famous relative until in the 1960’s Giovanni Gaja (father to Angelo) and Bruno Giacosa demonstrated Barbaresco’s full potential. It wasn’t until Angelo Gaja’s single-vineyard efforts and precise viticultural and winemaking practices, beginning with the Sori San-Lorenzo in 1967, that Barbaresco started to gain attention and prestige. Over time Gaja’s contributions to Barbaresco included reducing crop size, decreasing fermentation periods, utilizing temperature-controlled tanks, and aging wines in barrique; these practices pushed Barbaresco’s reputation for quality across Piemonte and beyond the Langhe Hills.

Less prolific than its neighbor, Barbaresco DOCG produces about half the amount of wine of Barolo. The area is broken up into three subzones—Barbaresco, Neive, and Treiso—and as in Barolo, the practice of single-vineyard bottlings is the calling card of these collectible wines. The soil of Barbaresco is fundamentally a calcareous marl of the Tortonian epoch (as opposed to the Helvetian soil found in the Barolo communes of Monforte and Serralunga), and it tends to yield softer, more approachably aromatic wines, similar to the Barolo communes of La Morra and Barolo. These points of difference owe, in part, to Barbaresco’s cooler climate and shorter ripening period, with harvesting in late September to late October. Barbaresco also has a lower alcohol level requirement (12.5% compared to Barolo's 13%) and less stringent ageing requirements (Barbaresco ages for a minimum of two years with at least one year in barrel, while Barolo ages for at least three years with a minimum of two years in barrel). Like Barolo, the area under vine has increased as a result of a series of favorable vintages in the late ‘90s, bringing current acreage to 1,680.

Barbaresco ripens earlier than Barolo, and this timing makes a huge impact on the wine itself. While still tannic, Barbaresco spends less time macerating, and having had less contact with the grapes’ skins, it results in a lighter-colored, lighter-bodied wine intended to be drunk sooner than Barolo. Elegant yet lively, Barbaresco is a deeply aromatic, yet soft, fruity and spicy wine ready to drink five to ten years after bottling, though many finer vintages will age quite nicely.