The 2014 Barbaresco Angelo offers some ripe fruit with a touch of dried cherry skin. The approach is slightly more accessible and ripe, making this a solid near-term option. Dark spice, leather and tar appear on the close. This is a mid-weight expression of Nebbiolo with ripe and ready tannins.

The 2014 Barbaresco Angelo is a blend of 50% Ronchi, 25% Loreto and 25% Montersino fruit that sees 40 days on the skins. A powerful, explosive wine, the 2014 possesses terrific depth and volume, with plenty of structural underpinning. The blend of sites works nicely, even though it is quite evident that the tannic structure of Ronchi is one of the wine's principal signatures. Readers will have to be patient with the 2014. Even so, there is quite a bit to look forward to. The Angelo, a tribute to the late Angelo Rocca, is the only Barbaresco in the range done with a classic submerged cap fermentation, an approach that seems so well suited to this fruit.