Bruno Giacosa Barbaresco Santo Stefano 1999 750ml

Although a bit slender, the 1999 Barbaresco Santo Stefano is in great shape tonight. Still fresh and nicely delineated, the 1999 has also aged quite well. The 1999 has always been a slender, narrowly built wine, especially next to the surrounding vintages, but tonight it is quite expressive and absolutely delicious. I would not wait too long, as the 1999 will be much less pleasurable once the modest fruit starts to fade. This is without question the best and most expressive bottle of the 1999 I have had.

• Country: Italy
• Region: Piedmont
• Appellation: Barbaresco
• Size: 750ml
• Color: Red

Varietal

Nebbiolo

The Nebbiolo grape varietal is widely understood to be the fruit responsible for Italy’s finest aged wines. However, its popularity and reliability as a grape which gives out outstanding flavors and aromas has led it to be planted in many countries around the world, with much success. These purple grapes are distinguishable by the fact that they take on a milky dust as they begin to reach maturity, leading many to claim that this is the reason for their unusual name, which means ‘fog’ in Italian. Nebbiolo grapes produce wines which have a wide range of beautiful and fascinating flavors, the most common of which are rich, dark and complex, such as violet, truffle, tobacco and prunes. They are generally aged for many years to balance out their characteristics, as their natural tannin levels tend to be very high.