My visit to Sottimano was a real highlight of the time I spent in Barbaresco this past summer. I have been buying these wines for my own cellar since the mid 1990s. The transformation here since then has been nothing short of remarkable. Rino and Andrea Sottimano gave their 2016s 30 days on the skins and then aged the wines in a cold cellar with the goal of drawing out the malolactic fermentations as long as possible, the approach they have taken for a number of years. The long harvest of 2016 yielded exquisitely perfumed, silky wines that are utterly captivating. Tasted next to the 2016, the 2015s have slightly coarser tannins and less overall polish, although that is in relative terms given the absolute quality of the wines across the board.

From Barbaresco – Out of the Shadows: The 2016s & 2015s by Antonio Galloni