2016 Fontanabianca Barbaresco DOCG 750 ml

This Fontanabianca release is Langhe precision and elegance at its best in the under-$80 category. There’s been unprecedented buzz around the 2016 Barbaresco vintage, and today’s painstakingly crafted Nebbiolo captures the excitement, grace, and energy of the historic harvest at a significant savings. 

Racy acidity underlines warm red fruits and delicate aromas of cedar, licorice, and tobacco, with a sumptuous finish wrapped in long, fine-grained tannins. For a comparable offering from Barolo, you’d be paying three times the price.

“Full-bodied, elegant,” says Wine Enthusiast, which bestowed 94 points and selected this bottle for Cellar Selection honors. Meanwhile Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate raved: “Fontanabianca presents a rich and full-bodied expression of Nebbiolo here in this classic vintage,” adding, “there is beautiful texture here, with balanced and silky intensity to the end.”

For the price, Fontanabianca steals the show.

The third-generation winemaking clan behind Fontanabianca established this estate in 1969. Aldo Pola and his son Matteo operate out of Neive, a medieval village located between Asti and Alba, famous for producing the boldest, most masculine Barbarescos of the main townships. Here, blue-grey marl soils lend delicacy to the perfume-like aromatics of smoke, rose, strawberry, and raspberry. Southwestern exposure and abundant sunshine give Fontanabianca Nebbiolos their richness and fullness, maintained thanks to careful hand-harvesting and use of large casks. 

In its generosity as well as its quiet grace, this wine reflects its makers. Matteo, the new face of the estate, is outgoing and relaxed; his father, by comparison, is shy, happiest when alone in the vineyards, where he’s known to converse with the vines. They are united in their belief in the importance of balance in Barbaresco, which they insist should be present from the beginning, not just after long years of cellaring. Their simple philosophy has guided generations of Piedmont’s best: Live close to the vineyards, drink your own wine, and maintain the land for future generations. 

The crop of 2016s show the heights that the legacy northern Italian estates can achieve when Mother Nature lines everything up. “A total game-changer for the region,” writes Walter Speller on JancisRobinson.com. “The 2016s confirm all of the promise they have always shown. It is a stunning, brilliant vintage across the board,” says Vinous’s Antonio Galloni, confirming his early intuitions that the year was “a potentially historic vintage.” Matteo Sardagna Einaudi told Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate: “In 2016, Nebbiolo moves over your whole palate. Your mouth salivates. These wines are full of confidence and pride.”

The very same could be said of this phenomenal Barbaresco from Fontanbianca—a Nebbiolo statement of finely tuned grace and power available for under $50.