Barbera, Larigi Langhe, 2022
Lavish and ripe with sweet succulent chocolatey coffee bean notes, powerful and heady with a liqueur like palate. Production has dropped from 3000 bottles down to a miniscule 900 bottles per year. A stunning 70-year-old, south-facing Barbera parcel sitting at the top of the Arborina vineyard. Fermented and aged in 100% new oak barrique for 18 months.
critic reviews
The Elio Altare 2022 Langhe Rosso Larigi is all Barbera executed with extra brawn and muscle. A 15% alcohol content gives the wine aromas of cherry liqueur, pomegranate juice, grenadine and black tar. It offers a full-bodied approach with all of the intensity Barbera is known for. However, this wine is almost a little too powerful for its own good. Fruit comes from an Altare family vineyard in La Morra planted to Barbera, and the wine ages in barrique for 18 months. Production is 1,600 bottles.
The 2022 Larigi, Altare's 100% Barbera, is a rich, heady wine. A burst of succulent dark plum, spice, mocha, rose petal and a kiss of new oak saturates the palate. Sumptuous and generous, with no hard edges, the 2022 is a total pleasure bomb. All the elements meld together so effortlessly. I would cellar the 2022 for a few years, although it is already pretty delicious today.