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  • 2012 Bruno Giacosa Barbaresco Asili

2012 Bruno Giacosa Barbaresco Asili

96 JS

Featured Review
This has superb elegance and depth to it. Full to medium body, ultra-fine tannins and a wonderful length. Exquisite tannins. All about class this year. Grows on the palate. The quality of the tannins! Drink or hold. James Suckling

James Suckling | 96 JS

Critic Reviews

This has superb elegance and depth to it. Full to medium body, ultra-fine tannins and a wonderful length. Exquisite tannins. All about class this year. Grows on the palate. The quality of the tannins! Drink or hold.

James Suckling | 96 JS
Red rose, iris, perfumed berry and baking spice emerge on this stunning, vibrant wine. The elegantly structured palate offers crushed raspberry, juicy red cherry, cinnamon and chopped herb while fresh acidity and polished tannins provide a bright, elegant framework. Drink 2018–2027.

Wine Enthusiast | 95 WE
The 2012 Barbaresco Asili is the finest wine I have tasted from Bruno Giacosa since the 2007 vintage. A bright, beautifully translucent red, the 2012 Asili captures the essence of this great site in its perfumed aromatics, silky fruit and understated depth. Hints of orange zest, rose petal, cinnamon and pine are laced into the resonant, alluring finish. Already quite open and expressive, the 2012 should drink well for the next decade or so. Giacosa fans will find much to admire in the sexy, open-knit 2012 Asili. This is a tremendous showing, and one of the very best 2012s readers will come across.

Antonio Galloni | 94 AG
(Bruno Giacosa, Asili, Barbaresco, Piedmont, Italy, Red) Three of the greatest contiguous vineyards in Barbaresco are Asili, Martinenga and Rabajà. This Giacosa wine from the first of these is clear garnet in colour, with fruits now well into the stride of maturity: creamy, complex and autumnal, with a hint of camphor and tar. Authoritative and ample.

Decanter | 94 DEC
Bruno Giacosa's 2012 Barbaresco Asili benefitted from a warm growing season. The wine opens to a dark, compact appearance and shows an impressive level of aromatic intensity and complexity. The tannins are slightly less mature and more astringent in 2012 compared to 2011. This bodes well for the aging potential of this beautiful wine. Fresh acidity caps a very pretty portrait of the Nebbiolo grape. This is a lovely offering from this historic producer.

Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 94 RP
Enticing flavors of cherry, strawberry, eucalyptus and underbrush mark this elegant, firm red. Tightly wound for now and just hinting at the future, but the long, lingering aftertaste shows potential. Decant now, but best to wait a few more years. Best from 2018 through 2030. 150 cases imported.

Wine Spectator | 93 WS

Wine Details for 2012 Bruno Giacosa Barbaresco Asili

Type of Wine Barbaresco : A good Barbaresco traditionally conjures a perfume of powerful floral aroma, and massages your tastebuds with gentle violets and roses creating a juicy burst of cherry and truffle. If you decide to let the wine age, it can develop smokey, earthy notes that round out the experience beautifully. No one is left indifferent after tasting one of these masterpieces, we can assure you of that.
Varietal Nebbiolo : Nebbiolo is the superstar grape variety and driving force behind the top-quality red wines of northwestern Italy. The Italian winegrowing appellation of Piedmont is covered by a sea of Nebbiolo grape vines. It is the undisputed king of grapes in the twin hillside villages of Barolo and Barbaresco, where some of the world’s most coveted wines hail from.

Quality over quantity is the motto for this subtly powerful grape. A mere 5,500 hectares of Nebbiolo are cultivated around the world, of which, more than 4,000 are found in Langhe and Roero. The varietal has been growing here since the 1st century and has been called Nebbiolo since the 1200’s. Like most ancient grape varietals, there are many speculations as to its true origin, but what is certain is that in the hills of Langhe and Roero, Nebbiolo has found its ideal environment.

Unlike Cabernet Sauvignon which is a versatile grape, Nebbiolo has not thrived when planted in wine regions outside of northern Italy. Nebbiolo is more like the finicky Pinot Noir: difficult to grow and highly reflective of terroir. The varietal thrives on calcareous marl, a lime-rich mudstone that is found on the right back of the Tanaro River (home to Barolo and Barbaresco) where it grows best in its warm climate and ample sunlight. The growing conditions in the hilly areas of Barolo and Barbaresco are optimal and produce some of the most sought after wines not only in Italy, but in the world.

The Nebbiolo vine buds earlier than most grapes grown in Piedmont but harvested last. The berries do not appear until long after flowering, making it very susceptible to poor weather conditions. The name Nebbiolo is thought to have come from the Italian word for fog, nebbia, which is common during the fall when the local hillsides are covered in a ghostly haze.

The iron fist in a velvet glove, which is a witty slogan for the wine of Barolo, can aptly be used to define the Nebbiolo grape itself. The thin-skinned, light colored grape packs a punch, producing wines that are light ruby when young and fades to a pale garnet when older. This characteristic should not be mistaken as watery; wine produced from Nebbiolo is super concentrated and flavorful with high acidity and tannins. When properly vinified, the best vintages will last for decades.

Despite the challenges of this fussy grape, some growers in the “New World” are trying their hand at harvesting Nebbiolo. In South Australia young producers are making wines that are fruiter and less tannic than their Italian counterparts. This novel take on the Italian grape has prompted California, Chile and South Africa to begin small plantings of Nebbiolo.

The iron fist in a velvet glove, the undisputed king of Piedmont and the deceptively powerful Nebbiolo grape may be limited in quantity, much-coveted, nearly exclusive to Italy, demands aging and can sometimes command high prices; the wait, the price and the difficulty in finding it is rewarded with one of the greatest wines made from the mighty Nebbiolo grape varietal.
Country Italy : Italy is renowned as one of the world’s greatest gastronomic havens; from certified Prosciutto di Parma to the sea-side seafood eateries on the island of Sicily. However, this epicurean experience could not possibly be as hedonistic without the ethereal combination of the country’s plethora of fine wines. It seems unfair that a nation should be able to boast, both, some of the world’s greatest cuisine as well as its greatest wines. Italian wine is one of the most sought after in the world, and has become the second most produced in the world, behind only France.



Stretching an impressive 736 miles from northern Italy to the peninsula’s southern tip, the country’s geography generates an enormous array of topography, climate and soil structure. This is an extremely important quality of its winegrowing and making industry which lays claim to nearly 550 different grape varietals, which all desire their own necessities, in terms of terroir and climate.



The still red wines of Italy truly characterize the nation’s vast and expansive terroir; Nebbiolo dominates Piedmont, where Barolo and Barbaresco reign king and queen of the region’s production. Hailing from Brunello di Montalcino in Tuscany, the rockstar Sangiovese grape has become synonymous with greatness. Vin Santo sweet wines have taken on a mighty feat of competing with the glorious wines of Sauternes, and of course, Prosecco. Prosecco, located in Trieste (northeast Italy) and its creation of luxuriously effervescent styles of wine has become Italy’s answer to Champagne. The Glera grape variety, which has become synonymous with the name Prosecco, is the main ingredient and is beloved in the appellation where the village of Prosecco’s name has become world renowned.



The blurred boundary between Italy and the countries of Slovenia and Austria, where German influence still resonates through Friuli wines. The prevalence of Riesling and other such grape varietals is high in this region and have become extremely popular on today’s market.



With nearly 702,000 hectares of grapevines covering the massive and diverse landscape, Italy’s annual average of 48.3 million hectoliters of wine production is second only to France in terms of volume and Spain in terms of hectares of vines. The country is vast and overwhelming when it comes to the culinary arts, but perhaps even this is overshadowed by its production of some of the world’s most sought after wines, whether the omnipresent Chianti to the highly collectible and sought after Amarone della Valpolicalla.


Overview

Producer Bruno Giacosa

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