Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco Montefico Riserva 2020

97 points Audrey Frick (JebDunnuck.com): "The 2020 Barbaresco Riserva Montefico is a deep red color, and the nose opens to notes of crushed rosemary, darker crushed stones, and black cherries. The palate is rich in sapidity, saturating the senses with ripe tannins, even acidity, and a long finish. It feels like a more profound and compelling wine in the range for this vintage. Bravo. Drink: 2027-2047. (May 2025)"

96+ points Monica Larner (Wine Advocate): "Two standouts from the 2020 vintage are Montefico and Asili. The Produttori del Barbaresco 2020 Barbaresco Riserva Montefico comes from a site that is distant from the warm air that travels through the Tanaro River Valley and is closed within an amphitheater. This is a beautiful vineyard that looks toward the village of Neive and has active limestone soils. The wine is especially compact in texture and has a distinctly herbal note, with dried rosemary and lavender, that gives it a Mediterranean or botanical feel. The palate delivers a brief moment of softness, but otherwise the wine is structured and rich. Drink: 2026-2050. (1/30/25)"

96 points Kerin O'Keefe: "The most closed of the Riservas at this stage, the 2020 Montefico has aromas and flavors recalling red berry, spice, tobacco and forest floor. It’s brooding and youthfully austere, with firm tannins. Showing more aging potential than its siblings, this will also need a little more time. Drink 2027–2035. Abv: 14.5%. (Sep 2024)"

96 points Antonio Galloni (Vinous): "A complex, beautifully layered wine, the 2020 Barbaresco Riserva Montefico expresses so many of the attributes that make the wines from this vintage and site so intriguing. The bouquet alone is wonderfully complex. Dried herbs, mint, pine, tobacco and cedar open first, leading to a core of chiseled dark-toned fruit. A vertical, structured Barbaresco, the Montefico is superb. Drink: 2025-2035. (Oct 2024)"

94+ points Ian D'Agata Wine Review: "If you want to have some fun, use this wine to help you learn what kind of palate your friends truly have. Clearly, nobody today wants to get stuck with the label of having an :American or New World” palate, that is a preference for jammy, low acid, creamy wines, but when they taste those wines and others that are higher in acid and more refined, they invariably pick the ripe creamy ones. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, of course. So here’s another 2020 Barbaresco curveball: tasted blind, I don’t think I would have picked this up as a wine from Montefico. Bright red. Brooding aromas of ripe red cherry, red plum, musk, camphor and licorice. Big. austere and tannic, this currently monolithic Barbaresco is very closed. Finishes spicy, tense and long, with nervous citrussy acidity that speaks of the calcareous soil. A very big Montefico that will need time to shed its tannic cloak, it will greatly appeal to all those who like big, mouthcoating wines while those who like more steely, refined wines will be left less thrilled. Drinking window: 2031-2041. (4/18/25)"

94 points Bruce Sanderson (Wine Spectator): "[$89 list] Smooth and fruity, this red delivers cherry, raspberry, floral and mineral aromas and flavors. Firms up on the finish, where a chalky feel kicks in, yet overall this is open and harmonious. Fine length. Best from 2026 through 2040. 1,388 cases made, 350 cases imported. (4/23/25)"