Things kicked up several notches with a flight of Barbareschis from the famed Asili vineyard. Asili is in the village of Barbaresco, where the wines are generally more feminine than in Neive. The best wines from this site have great aromatics and fine, silky tannins. The 2007 Barbaresco Asili was once again explosive. I expect the wine will settle down nicely with further bottle age, but at this stage lots of baby fat came through.

The 2007 Barbaresco Asili is a striking, elegant wine. Sweet roses, minerals, flowers, menthol and minerals emerge from this firm yet intensely perfumed Barbaresco. The wine reveals gorgeous weight and textural richness in a firm style that requires patience. Beginning with the 2007 vintage, the vineyards delimitations in Barbaresco have been re-drawn. As a result, Giacosa’s parcel in Rabaja is now considered part of Asili, which means there will be no more Barbaresco Rabaja from Bruno Giacosa after 2005. In 2007, the white label Asili is roughly 80% juice from the old ‘Rabaja’ parcel and 20% Asili from the vines Giacosa has always used for his Asili. Curiously, the 2007 Asili is a very soft wine, considering it is made mostly from vines that informed such majestic Rabajas as the 2001 and 2004. Anticipated maturity: 2017-2032.

Medium bright red. Rather brooding aromas of medicinal red cherry. Layered, fleshy, deep and sweet but youthfully backward, even a bit reduced, with an almost liqueur-like quality to its flavors of red fruits and candied rose. A lush and silky wine that finishes chewy and long, with powerful ripe tannins. For all its size and power, this shows the elegance of a Barbaresco from sandy soil.