2018 Castello di Verduno Barbaresco Piedmont 750 ml

You go to Piedmont expecting greatness from the icons of Barolo and Barbaresco: the Conternos, the Gajas, the estates that produce some of the most ethereal, terroir-expressive, and collectible red wines on Earth—and command $200 and much more per bottle.

But there’s nothing more satisfying than finding that greatness somewhere less expected—and we found it at a small estate in Verduno. While sitting in the cellar at a table made out of a warped, old barrelhead, we tasted the wine that became the talk of our trip: the 2018 Castello di Verduno Barbaresco. 

This is dollar for dollar one of the greatest expressions of place in all of Northern Italy. From the moment we tasted the vibrant, young wine straight from the massive oak botti, we could tell it was going to mature into a gorgeous Barbaresco that shines with Verduno’s stellar terroir. And for the past two years, we’ve been talking about this superb Nebbiolo, waiting for the day we could share it with Wine Access members. 

Now bottled and in the States, the 2018 is even more fascinating than it was back in the cellar. It’s a textural masterpiece, boasting not just the drop-dead gorgeous aromatics of exemplary Nebbiolo—the wild red berries and herbs, exotic spices, licorice, and worn leather—but a rounded, voluminous mid-palate that reminds us of Vosne-Romanée and other great Burgundies as much as it does anything from Italy. As Vinous put it, this is “such a gorgeous wine.” 

This bottle captures the unique beauty of Barbaresco, which tends to be more approachable in its youth than its sister Barolo. It’s capable of maturing beautifully in the cellar, but a little less demanding of (often decades of) patience. In short, it’s easy to love yet endlessly fascinating. 

It’s been almost a year since we’ve offered a Barbaresco—that’s because we’ve been waiting for this one, which we’ve looked forward to sharing since we first tasted it.

Castello di Verduno, which sits in the Barolo zone, was constructed in the early 1500s. The Burlotto family purchased the land and the home in 1909, and when daughter Gabriella Burlotto married Franco Bianco—whose family owned a winery and vineyards in Barbaresco—Castello di Verduno gained parcels there. Their acquisition included a piece of the Rabajà cru, one of Barbaresco’s top sites. 

Despite that expansion, Castello di Verduno remains tiny today, boasting just 25 acres, only half of which are located in Barbaresco. This 2018 bottling comes from three of the family’s vineyards, two of which—Rabajà and Faset—are also tapped to make $70-$100+ single-site wines. The vineyards’ varied exposures and sand, clay, and limestone soils make this a vivid snapshot of Piedmont's signature terroirs. 

Crafted with a traditional twenty-day fermentation followed by 18 months in Slavonian botti, this wine was the star of our trip to Piedmont. It’s a Barbaresco worth waiting for—and we’re thrilled that its day has finally come.