Bruno Giacosa Barbaresco Asili 2012
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Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This has superb elegance and depth to it. Full to medium body, ultra-fine tannins and a wonderful length. Exquisite tannins. All about class this year. Grows on the palate. The quality of the tannins! Drink or hold.
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Wine Enthusiast
Red rose, iris, perfumed berry and baking spice emerge on this stunning, vibrant wine. The elegantly structured palate offers crushed raspberry, juicy red cherry, cinnamon and chopped herb while fresh acidity and polished tannins provide a bright, elegant framework. Drink 2018–2027.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Bruno Giacosa's 2012 Barbaresco Asili benefitted from a warm growing season. The wine opens to a dark, compact appearance and shows an impressive level of aromatic intensity and complexity. The tannins are slightly less mature and more astringent in 2012 compared to 2011. This bodes well for the aging potential of this beautiful wine. Fresh acidity caps a very pretty portrait of the Nebbiolo grape. This is a lovely offering from this historic producer.
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Wine & Spirits
This wine’s texture is lovely, with lightly abrasive tannins that weave through its saturated flavors of black cherry and plum. The fruit is rich, its sweet ripeness balanced by fresh acidity. The flavors take on notes of anise and pepper, verging into some savory notes that provide ballast—on the dark end of the spectrum for Barbaresco, calling for a match with rich beef or veal dishes.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2012 Bruno Giacosa Barbaresco Asili exhibits excellent fruit and lasting depth. TASTING NOTES: This wine shows up from the beginning and lasts long in the finish. Enjoy its aromas and flavors of ripe red fruit and aromatic flowers with braised short ribs. (Tasted: September 9, 2019, San Francisco, CA)
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Wine Spectator
Enticing flavors of cherry, strawberry, eucalyptus and underbrush mark this elegant, firm red. Tightly wound for now and just hinting at the future, but the long, lingering aftertaste shows potential. Decant now, but best to wait a few more years. Best from 2018 through 2030.
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One of the legendary winemakers of the world, Bruno Giacosa crafted the most prestigious single-vineyard Barolo and Barbaresco wines during a career that spanned nearly eight decades. He joined the family business at the age of 15, representing the third generation of his Langhe winemaking family. Giacosa’s unfailing pursuit of perfection, his unrivalled palate and his intimate knowledge of vineyards in the Langhe quickly drew recognition and helped establish Piedmont as a leading wine region. In 1982, Giacosa began to acquire prime parcels in Serralunga d’Alba, La Morra and Barbaresco to produce wines that are rightly regarded as the finest expressions of Nebbiolo.
His legacy rests with daughter Bruna, who continues to uphold her father’s winemaking philosophy to respect traditional techniques while using the best of modern technology. The goal is for each distinguished site to produce articulate, unique wines.
The “Azienda Agricola Falletto – di Bruno Giacosa” label represents wines made from estate vineyards. The “Casa Vinicola Bruno Giacosa” label appears on wines made from purchased grapes that are made with the same care in the Nieve winery.
Responsible for some of the most elegant and age-worthy wines in the world, Nebbiolo, named for the ubiquitous autumnal fog (called nebbia in Italian), is the star variety of northern Italy’s Piedmont region. Grown throughout the area, as well as in the neighboring Valle d’Aosta and Valtellina, it reaches its highest potential in the Piedmontese villages of Barolo, Barbaresco and Roero. Outside of Italy, growers are still very much in the experimentation stage but some success has been achieved in parts of California. Somm Secret—If you’re new to Nebbiolo, start with a charming, wallet-friendly, early-drinking Langhe Nebbiolo or Nebbiolo d'Alba.
A wine that most perfectly conveys the spirit and essence of its place, Barbaresco is true reflection of terroir. Its star grape, like that in the neighboring Barolo region, is Nebbiolo. Four townships within the Barbaresco zone can produce Barbaresco: the actual village of Barbaresco, as well as Neive, Treiso and San Rocco Seno d'Elvio.
Broadly speaking there are more similarities in the soils of Barbaresco and Barolo than there are differences. Barbaresco’s soils are approximately of the same two major soil types as Barolo: blue-grey marl of the Tortonion epoch, producing more fragile and aromatic characteristics, and Helvetian white yellow marl, which produces wines with more structure and tannins.
Nebbiolo ripens earlier in Barbaresco than in Barolo, primarily due to the vineyards’ proximity to the Tanaro River and lower elevations. While the wines here are still powerful, Barbaresco expresses a more feminine side of Nebbiolo, often with softer tannins, delicate fruit and an elegant perfume. Typical in a well-made Barbaresco are expressions of rose petal, cherry, strawberry, violets, smoke and spice. These wines need a few years before they reach their peak, the best of which need over a decade or longer. Bottle aging adds more savory characteristics, such as earth, iron and dried fruit.