Produttori del Barbaresco, Barbaresco Riserva Montestefano, 2005

Twenty years in, the brawniest cru from Barbaresco's beloved cooperative is doing exactly what Montestefano always does — flexing. Produttori del Barbaresco was founded in 1958 as a co-op of small Barbaresco growers; in vintages strong enough to merit it, they bottle nine single-cru Riservas after roughly five years of aging (three years in large Slavonian botti plus six to twelve months in bottle) before release. Montestefano is widely considered the most powerful and structured of the nine — the cru most often described as 'masculine,' all calcareous-limestone tannin and dark, brooding fruit. The 2005 vintage in Barbaresco was a more average year that produced wines of approachable scale, and Montestefano's natural density carries the cuvée gracefully into its third decade. Resolved tannins, savory tertiary depth, plenty of life still ahead. A textbook mature Riserva from the address that defines fair-priced classicism.