Produttori del Barbaresco, Barbaresco Riserva Montefico, 2008

Cooperative Barbaresco at its most authoritative. Produttori del Barbaresco, founded in 1958, brings together 50-plus growers and bottles nine single-cru Riservas in the best vintages, each aged a minimum of 30 months in large Slavonian oak before release. Montefico sits south- and southeast-facing at 230-260 meters between Ovello and the more famous Montestefano, on calcareous-limestone soils that translate into firmly structured, mineral-driven Barbaresco with a snap of austerity. The 2008 vintage was a solid classical year for the zone. Seventeen years on, this Riserva is just entering its drinking window: the tannins are loosening, the fruit deepening, the savory minerality emerging. Hold a few more years or pour it with patience and a carafe.