2005 Barbaresco Gaiun Martinenga

Marchesi di Grésy 2005 Barbaresco Gaiun is a gorgeous wine for drinking now and over the next decade. Sweet, sexy and open-knit, but with good underlying depth, the 2005 is just beginning to show the first signs of aromatic development. The interplay of the typically supple Gaiun fruit and the brisk, salivating energy of the year makes for a compelling and complete Barbaresco. The 2005 has enough freshness to drink well for another decade, perhaps longer.

Good medium red. Red licorice, tobacco, minerals, camphor, dusty spices and a whiff of sweet oak on the nose. Dense and silky but quite dry; began sweet but seemed to shut down in the glass, even showing a slight dry edge to its broad tannins. Very closed today and in need of patience.

The 2005 Barbaresco Gaiun Martinenga is a round, sensual wine laced with perfumed fruit. This is an especially soft, elegant Giaun with impeccable balance and tons of style. The wine remains understated - as the di Gresy Barbarescos often are - but the plumpness and inner sweetness of the fruit gives the wine wonderful volume. The French oak is very nicely integrated here. This is another delicious Barbaresco from Marchesi di Gresy. The Gaiun is made from a parcel adjacent to Asili and it too shows many of that site's qualities.