The Bruno Giacosa 2017 Barbaresco Rabajà is a fine and delicate wine that throws a curveball at our expectations of this notoriously hot and dry vintage. The wine is exceedingly generous when it comes to its fruit, especially its blackcurrant and plum, but what steals the show is that elegant mineral note that so seamlessly cedes to spice, licorice and cinnamon. Rabajà is one of the most distinctive growing sites in Barbaresco, thanks to its white stony soils that leave such a strong imprint on its wines. The wine is remarkable for its nicely linear and delicate style, but it ultimately proves its power and determination on the palate over many long minutes.

White label. Warm vintage, like 2015 but with more structure. They believe in 2017. Just 0.5 ha so only 3,600 bottles aged in a 28-hl barrel, their smallest. Aged for 20 months, usually in barrel, and then 17 months in bottle. In 2024, they’ll release the 2020. This was released in 2021. There’s a higher percentage of clay here so the wine needs time. Bright ruby. Heady and intense nose. Spicy and well composed. A wine with a real beginning, middle and end and a dry, but not drying, finish. Lots of potential for superb ageing here. (JR)