1978 Barbaresco Rabaja Riserva

1978 is of course a legendary vintage in Piedmont and well-kept bottles still deliver the goods. A hot summer followed a cool spring in which yields were lowered dramatically by an irregular fruit set, resulting in some of the most powerful and age worthy wines that have ever been made in the region. This was an incredible flight with which to close out the tasting, even if two wines were flawed. The 1978 Barbaresco Riserva Rabajà, possibly the estate's most legendary wine, lived up to expectations, and then some. Its fireworks were on full display as sweet layers of ripe, dark fruit emerged with seemingly no end. Mentholated, balsamic notes lingered on the long finish in this extraordinary and sublime Barbaresco.