Cascina Baricchi

A truly unique producer flying under the radar in Barbaresco. That is the best way to describe this estate based in Neviglie, which is located technically just outside the official Barbaresco zone but being allowed to bottle their wine as Barbaresco due to the history and quality of the vineyards. To our knowledge it is the only producer here that produce Barbaresco made one hundred percent from Nebbiolo rose. 

The estate is run by Natale Simonetta and his wife, Francesca. Natale made the move to Piedmont in 1991 to an estate his father bought initially in 1979 and it was then he fell in love with wine. Although he did not graduate from enological school he studied with the legend Bruno Giacosa whom he thanks a lot for his career.

The first vintage of Barbaresco entered the market with the 1996 vintage. The winery makes about 8000-10 000 bottles of Barbaresco per year which is in fact all released as Riserva. The grapes comes from the vineyards Casasse from vines planted from 1913 (0.4 hectare) up to 2009 (0.8 hectare). There are some who claim that Nebbiolo Rose is genetically distinct from Nebbiolo and a separate grape entirely (though related), though others believe it is just a different clone of Nebbiolo. Natale believes the latter.

Their second Barbaresco Riserva “Quindicianni” is a blend of fruit from Casasse and Roncaglie. This wine is aged in cask for five years followed
by an additional ten years in the bottle before release, hence the “Quindicianni,” or fifteen years. Believe us, upon release it is still in the front end of maturity and a masterpiece already. 

Baricchi’s wines are produced in a traditional style with relatively long macerations and extended ageing in large botti. Fermentations are done with natural yeasts and last 15-18 days with pump-overs and occasionally delestage as well in years where the color is light. After fermentation, the wines are macerated for an additional 10 days or so with capello sommerso, or submerged cap, before pressing into large, neutral botti. Here, the wines are aged for a minimum of five years before being bottled.