The 2014 Bruno Giacosa Barbaresco Asili Riserva holds a unique place in the history of this estate: it is the last vintage of the red-label Asili Riserva produced under the direct supervision of Bruno Giacosa himself, who passed away in January 2018. Bruno Giacosa did not make a red-label Asili in 2015, judging the vintage insufficiently exceptional for the designation; the 2014 was thus the final expression of his personal authority and judgement applied to what many consider his greatest wine. Wine Advocate awarded the 2014 Asili Riserva 97 points, confirming that even in a challenging vintage, Giacosa’s ability to find the finest material and vinify it with the precision and patience of more than six decades of experience produced a wine of outstanding quality and historical significance. One critic described the wine as having “an amazingly creamy panoply of red fruit and herbal flavours” and an intensity of inner-mouth perfume unmatched by any other Barbaresco.

The 2014 Barbaresco vintage was cool and difficult in general terms, but the finest single-vineyard sites, managed by the most experienced producers, produced wines of surprising elegance, freshness and complexity from the combination of reduced yields and perfectly ripe Nebbiolo selected with extraordinary care. Giacosa’s decision to make a red-label Asili in 2014 confirms his assessment that the material at his disposal in this vintage, from this specific vineyard, met his uncompromising quality standard. In a decade of bottle development, the 2014 Asili Riserva will have developed a secondary complexity and aromatic depth that the finest cool-year Barbaresco consistently achieves over time in the cellar.

The 2014 Asili Riserva magnum is, in the truest sense, an irreplaceable wine: the last Giacosa Asili Riserva produced under Bruno Giacosa himself, from a year in which he chose to apply the red label despite the vintage’s difficulty, in the most cellar-friendly format available. For collectors of Giacosa’s work and for those who understand the historical significance of this wine, the 2014 Asili Riserva magnum is an acquisition of the highest possible importance.

Mature garnet with a gloriously perfumed and complex nose of violet, rose, dried cherry, iron, camphor, fresh herbs, cinnamon and a crystalline mineral precision that speaks to Asili’s calcareous clay terroir. Full-bodied with silky, refined tannins, vibrant natural acidity and a long, elegant, spice-laden finish. Approaching its drinking window now; best from 2026 through 2050.

Incredible aromas of violets, roses and blue fruits. So perfumed. Never smelled a wine like this before. Full body, perfectly integrated tannins and bright, vivid acidity. Extremely long and endless. A seamless and great one. An evocative wine that makes you think. Needs three to five years of bottle age on release. Unique red.  — James Suckling

Packaged in its distinctive red label, the 2014 Barbaresco Riserva Asili represents a tremendous effort in a challenging but ultimately very rewarding vintage. Boasts an amazingly creamy panoply of red fruit and herbal flavours that are nicely lifted by an intense inner-mouth perfume. — Wine Advocate