2015 Barbaresco Asili Riserva Produttori del Barbaresco

The 2015 Barbaresco Riserva Asili shows a bit more aromatic lift and freshness than it did a few months ago, which is a very good sign for its future. Sweet spice and floral notes play off a core of sweet red Asili fruit. Medium in body, silky and inviting, the Asili is another highlight in this range. Like all of these wines, it shows the riper fruit and softer contours of a warm year.

Wild berry, violet, new leather, forest floor and eucalyptus aromas lift out of the glass. The elegant, full-bodied palate delivers dried black cherry, raspberry compote, licorice and dried mint alongside taut, polished tannins. Given the hot, dry growing season, this is a more powerful and concentrated version of Asili.

Asili has a warmer microclimate than most of the other vineyards here. It was first produced by Produttori as a single-vineyard wine in 1967. The 2015 is tight, tannic and reserved, with some bright strawberry, raspberry, cranberry and vanilla creeping out of the glass. In the mouth it has some meaty savouriness, and gives a hint of the complexity to come, but as it stands this needs a lot more time to become approachable. Scored for its potential. 10,000 bottles produced. Drinking Window 2025 - 2040.

One of the protagonists in this group of nine, the Produttori del Barbaresco 2015 Barbaresco Riserva Asili (with some 13,333 bottles made) shows bright cherry fruit, dried raspberry and blood orange. The wine's delicate aromatic layering continues with rusty iron, aniseed, tea leaf and camphor ash. Those lifted and vertical aromas contribute to the energy and vibrancy that this wine awards to the palate. The finish is extremely polished and tight, and those pretty flavors are folded neatly into the wine's silky texture. This wine has many years, or decades, of aging built into its inner clock.

Bright cherry and berry fruit picks up a saline edge in this fleshy red, which stays defined and vibrant despite the assertive tannins. In the end, all the components are in the right proportion; this just needs time to integrate. Best from 2023 through 2043. -B.S.