Pio Cesare Barbaresco Il Bricco 2013

Wine Spectator 93 points - Coffee, licorice, leather and sweet spices are the main flavors, with ripe cherry notes lurking underneath, all underscored by a mineral element. Dense, muscular tannins shore up the lightly astringent finish. Best from 2022 through 2035. 200 cases imported. -BS.November/2017

Vinous 93 points - A dark, rich wine, the 2013 Barbaresco Il Bricco is laced with dark cherry, mocha, plum, licorice, tobacco and smoke. Il Bricco is a more complex and pedigreed wine than the straight Barbaresco only because it is a much smaller production wine from a single vineyard site whereas the Barbaresco is a larger production wine from a number of sites. But the winemaking here, especially the influence of French oak, is ultimately a distraction. Stated more simply, Il Bricco could be - and should be - a materially better and more pedigreed Barbaresco..Antonio Galloni, October/2017

Wine Advocate 93 points - Some 70% of the fruit harvested from this single vineyard goes to the classic Barbaresco. The rest of the fruit is directed to the 2013 Barbaresco Il Bricco. Some 6,000 bottles are produced. This is a fantastic wine that offers a concise portrait of Nebbiolo from Barbaresco in a cooler vintage. The wine is elegant and impactful with thick layers of cherry and fragrant rose at its core. It boasts a firm tannic structure. Those aromas soften as the wine warms in the glass to become more ethereal and elegant with time. Licorice, smoke and pressed violets appear on a second, more subtle wave of aromas..Monica Larner, June/2017

Il Bricco is the name of the estate vineyard in Treiso, in the area of Barbaresco. The word "Bricco" in Piedmont dialect means the peak of a hill. The Il Bricco estate is not a generic peak, but the official name of that estate, marked on the government maps to indicate the specific hill dominating part of the territory of the Treiso village. This single vineyard Barbaresco has been produced since 1990 from a selection of exclusively selected Nebbiolo grapes grown in plots on the Il Bricco estate. It is only released in top-quality vintages, and isa different style from the traditional one, but still showing the typical character of a great traditional Barbaresco.