Giuseppe Nada, Barbaresco DOCG (Piedmont, Italy) 2017

 The 2017 from the Casot cru made by rising star Enrico Nada is a striking success from a year that proved challenging due to heat.  The finished wine shows virtually no discernable effect of the growing season’s predominant challenge, seeming instead like a wine of notable refinement from a cooler year.  Tart, red cherry fruit flavors form the wine’s foundation, with faint floral aromas up top, energizing acidity running through to the finish, and lovely spice and savory notes revealing themselves along the way.  This is notably better than the 2011 from this site in another year with significant heat spikes, demonstrating the ongoing improvements at this estate, which has been making some of Barbaresco’s best wines for a decade.