Barbaresco 'Bric Balin'

Score

93

"An intense and flavorful wine with a nose of prunes, licorice, cola, rhubarb and vermouth-like complexity. Medium-bodied, it shows graphite and dried mushroom flavors, velvety tannins, crisp acidity and a long, toasted finish. Drinkable now, but best from 2026."

Score

93

"Pouring a deep brick red color, the 2022 Barbaresco Bric Balin is another spicy wine on the nose and opens to more red-fruited notes of spiced cranberries, dried currants, crushed flowers, and dried earth. The palate also reveals more focus and linear tension while still having a richness of extract from the vintage and style, with ripe tannins, a more vibrant spine of acidity, and a savory and persistent drive through the finish. It packs in a good deal of tension and will likely show its best with another year or more in cellar. Drink 2026-2040."

Score

93

"The Moccagatta 2022 Barbaresco Bric Balin shows a touch of softness and ripeness with blackberry fruit and dried cherry. With 18 months in barrique, the wine is also quite generous with its aromas of sweet cinnamon and nutmeg. Those oak-related aromas are quite apparent now in the wine's youth. Oak-driven tannins reveal a touch of sweetness on the medium-plus finish. This is a release of 7,500 bottles."

Score

92

"The 2022 Barbaresco Bric Balin is a potent, dense wine. Black cherry, plum, licorice, leather and spice build in a broad, imposing Barbaresco endowed with notable textural intensity. I would give this a year or two to come together, as the tannins are pretty imposing at this stage."

Score

95

"The Moccagatta 2021 Barbaresco Bric Balin does not quite have the high tones of the Basarin. Indeed, the tenor here is baritone, with dark fruit, spice and iris root. In terms of mouthfeel, this wine offers a very fine and silky texture that gives the wine a polished or glossy feel. Bric Balin is a proprietary name, but the fruit comes from the Muncagota MGA. This is an 8,000-bottle release."

Score

94

"Spice box, toasted nuts, wild cherries and sandalwood on the nose. Firm and chewy, full-bodied, with broad and muscular tannins. Pretty wood spice. Needs a few years to come together. Try in 2027."

Score

94

"A saturated dark ruby color, the 2021 Barbaresco Bric Balin reveals a good deal of luxurious oak spice that's forward in the glass with aromas of black cherry liqueur, toasted baking spice, cedar, dried orange peel, and espresso. Medium to full-bodied, it saturates the palate with ripe tannins, concentrated richness of fruit, and evenly balanced acidity that lasts through the long finish, with lovely undercurrents of dark minerals. A modern style, but with a lot of depth and complexity, it deserves cellaring to see if it will harmonize, and I do think it will. Drink 2027-2047."

Score

94

"The 2021 Barbaresco Bric Balin has shut down a touch since I last tasted it a year ago. It shows good energy and persistence, along with better oak integration than the straight Barbaresco and Basarin. I would give this time in bottle, as it is pretty unyielding today, uncharacteristically so for a Moccagatta Barbaresco."

Score

93

"Vanilla and resin aromas complement the plum, cherry and tobacco flavors in this flamboyant red. Clove and allspice chime in as the dense tannins swell on the compact finish. Best from 2028 through 2043. 1,300 cases made, 433 cases imported."

Score

96

Score

95

Score

95

Score

92

Score

92

Score

94

Score

91

Score

91

Score

89+

Score

94

Score

93

Score

95

Score

93

Score

92

Score

91+