2023 Castello di Neive Barbaresco 750 ml

Single-vineyard wines from Barbaresco's best crus are truly phenomenal, yet Castello di Neive's 2023 Barbaresco makes a compelling case for the traditionally made blend. Complex and elegantly structured, it's a tapestry of some of Barbaresco's most esteemed terroir.

From their perch in a centuries-old hilltop castle, the Stupino family draws this bottle from a murderer's row of estate-owned sources. Chief among them is a slice of Santo Stefano—a cru Decanter called “one of the greatest vineyard sites of Italy”—alongside old-vine Gallina and the well-respected Messoirano and Valtorta.

Assembled with astounding attention to detail, it opens with the perfume that makes Neive Nebbiolo so seductive—wild strawberry, red cherry, and cassis lifted by rose petal, fresh mint, and licorice, with a subtle smoky edge. The palate is medium-bodied and poised, its juicy red fruit framed by firm but refined, dusty tannins and a bright thread of acidity, closing on dried herbs, anise, and warm spice.

The eponymous “castello” is an 18th-century hilltop castle with expansive cellars and surrounding vineyards. The Stupino family purchased the property in 1964, and over the years they've accumulated a patchwork of vineyards in some of Barbaresco's most important crus, which they still vinify in those same—albeit renovated—cellars.

The 2023 growing season tested Piedmont's growers—a wet, cool spring gave way to a hot summer—and it rewarded the meticulous, tradition-minded estates above all. In careful hands like these, the year yielded fresh, aromatic, classically proportioned Barbaresco, its warm, well-exposed crus—Santo Stefano among them—ripening fully. The wine spends time in the estate's traditional large oak casks to round its fine-grained tannins, then rests in bottle before release—a detailed, graceful Nebbiolo that speaks clearly of Neive.