The 2001 Barbaresco Santo Stefano Riserva reveals a deep color and a layered personality loaded with perfumed dark fruit and sweet toasted oak. Medium to full-bodied, it offers lovely depth and remarkable inner sweetness, with superb length and fine tannins on the finish. Still fresh and vibrant, it will require a few years in bottle prior to offering its best drinking. Stupino told me he used a higher percentage of barrique in this wine than normal. Anticipated maturity: 2009-2021.
Castello di Neive and proprietor Italo Stupino own the Santo Stefano vineyard in Neive, without question one of the most storied sites in all of Piedmont. It was Bruno Giacosa, with his legendary Barbarescos of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, who first brought the world’s attention to these vines. Even today, when he is more focused on making wines from estate-grown fruit, Giacosa speaks of Santo Stefano with reverence and awe, and lists it as the top vineyard in Barbaresco. Unfortunately until recently, Castello di Neive’s own wines have lagged considerably, but in recent years Stupino has brought on a new staff to work in the vineyards and in the cellar, and the results are striking. The word is still not out on Castello di Neive. In the US the distribution of these wines has been uneven, and they can be hard to find. Hopefully that will soon change. As an aside, the Castello makes for a fascinating visit. The aristocratic surroundings are somewhat of an anomaly in a winemaking culture defined by an abundance of small, artisanal growers.
Various American importers: Bacchanal Wine Imports, Inc., New York, NY; tel. (646) 207-0115; Grassroots Wine Wholesalers, LLC; Birmingham, AL; tel. (205) 250-9060; Vintage Selections, Cape Canaveral, FL; tel. (321) 783-2700; West Park Imports, Sharon Hill PA; tel. (610) 532-3039; Castello di Neive MHW Ltd, Manhasset, NY; tel. (516) 869-9170
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