Rizzi Barbaresco DOCG 2017

Young Piedmontese nebbiolo can be a bit divisive with its ‘pay attention to me’ tannins, and fruit hiding in the background like an awkward teenager. But if you don’t have the patience to wait a decade for the beauty to emerge, then this might be the wine you are looking for.

Initially there are lifted aromatics of dried rose and violet petals pressed between the pages of a leather-bound journal. Bright cranberries, red currants and black plums fill the glass, and with time, an earthy, graphite-rock baking in the sun emerges.

There’s no lurking teenager here; plush red and black plum flavours give a hint of the future for this wine. Tannin ricochets around the mouth like an enthusiastic 4 year old (which it is) but they are fine dancing tannins and don’t dominate. Lovely palate weight reminds you to take your time, decant, linger. 

Drink this in a lush drawing room on a leather sofa with toasted brioche and lashings of mushroom pâté.