The 2000 Barbaresco Riserva Montestefano is a deeper, darker wine. Sweet balsamic notes add complexity to a dark core of fruit as the Montestefano opens up. It shows gorgeous mid-palate sweetness, plenty of depth and a round, sensual personality with quite a bit more power than the Montefico. The Montestefano repeatedly showed poorly when it was first released. Today, that once awkward wine has grown into a beautiful Barbaresco. Anticipated maturity: 2011-2020.
I didn’t buy the 2000 vintage heavily at Produttori, but these two bottles, from my cellar, are beautiful. Both Barbareschi come from the part of the village that faces Neive, yet are totally different in character.