This our third article in less than a year on this historic domaine, but how could we resist? We have just gotten hold of their 2020 Barbaresco and it is so incredibly fresh and delicious that we are desperate to share.
But wait, isn’t Barbaresco for long-term cellaring? Well, tell that to the Piedmontese themselves, who happily gulp down young Barbaresco all the time for its delicious fruit, no decanting required. Or at least some Barbaresco. Yes, you would normally collect and cellar single Cru Barbaresco and other top bottlings, but today’s Barbaresco is designed – and priced – for simple drinking. It’s just that it’s really good simple drinking.

The Castello is most known for its purchase, in the early 1960s, of a hillside known as Santo Stefano. Only 20% of it was planted to vines at the time, but the Castello recognized its great potential and planted the entire hillside. The Castello has since supplied Bruno Giacosa (a Neive native) with the grapes for his monumental Santo Stefano, the one wine that Giacosa makes from purchased fruit.

The Castello also makes its own version of Santo Stefano (a serious wine, indeed), but also uses it as a source for today’s Barbaresco: a blend of different Crus intended to highlight the terroir of Neive in general. Neive is a little sandier than the village of Barbaresco, making wines that are less tannic. This, of course, helps make the wine more approachable, and so it is precisely the kind of Barbaresco that the Piedmontese gulp so happily when released:

Castello di Neive Barbaresco 2020 $45.99
"The 2020 Barbaresco is a very pretty, classy wine. Crushed flowers, bright red-toned fruit, tobacco, cedar and mint are some of the notes that waft from the glass in this attractive, mid-weight Barbaresco. I would give this a bit of air to help the bouquet come together. It's a lovely wine from Castello di Neive, and absolutely stellar in its peer group. 92 pts" - Antonio Galloni (Vinous)