2017 Sori San Lorenzo

The 2017 Barbaresco Sorì San Lorenzo shows its typical darkness and brooding character, but it is a bit light in body and structure. Time in the glass brigs out some of the wine’s natural breadth, but the 2017 is decidedly on the lighter side, as all these wines are. Dark plum, spice, smoke, licorice and tar begin to emerge, but they only do it with reluctance. The Sorì San Lorenzo signatures are present, and yet they aren’t fully expressed.

The 2017 growing season saw a couple of violent hail events in the Barbaresco appellation, and this celebrated vineyard suffered some damage during a storm that hit on July 19th. Yields were reduced, but the wine holds its own thanks to the careful fruit selection process put in place by the Gaja family. Their 2017 Barbaresco Sorì San Lorenzo is a shade richer in terms of flavor concentration, as is always the case with fruit from this slightly warmer growing site. However, like the other two single-vineyard Barbaresco expressions, this wine reveals a thin, sharp and nervous personality that is driven in large part by tannic firmness and acidity. Sorì San Lorenzo adds lots of dark mineral definition to cassis, wild cherry, rose and Provence herbs. Like the other wines, it needs extra cellar aging time.

Barbaresco. From the Secondine cru. Tasted blind. Mid ruby with orange tinges. Full, ripe yet fine nose with plenty of depth. Succulent and elegant palate with generous, sweet-sour cherry fruit and truly animating, crunchy tannins. Lots of everything but contained and poised at the same time. (WS)