Azienda Agricola Punset Campo Quadro San Cristoforo Barbaresco Riserva 2014

A wine to prove that Barbaresco can rival the best Barolos, and do it with style and progressive practices.

Why This Wine?

Barbaresco is an iconic region. Sometimes seen as the more approachable, easier to digest (both financially and physically) sibling to Barolo, it is so much more than that.  Wineries here are steeped in their own particular history and long-standing traditions, and Azienda Agricola Punset is no exception; the Campo Quadro 2014 is a traditionally-made Barbaresco that offers all of the flavors we know and love from the Nebbiolo grape on its home turf, but it is also so much more than that. It is one of the most thought-provoking, unique Barbarescos that we have had the pleasure of tasting in the last few years, and its maker, Marina Marcarino, is one of the true pioneers within her region. This wine is Marina’s parcel selection, coming from the Campo Quadro vineyard, located in the San Cristoforo sub-zone of Neive. It is the highest vineyard site on the Punset estate, with the shallowest topsoil, and the oldest vines, around 45 years. The time spent in barrel depends on the vintage, varying from fifteen to thirty-six months, and Marina takes a unique approach to barrel age: she rotates her wines through barrels of various ages every few months, believing that this produces the most balanced result with regards to the influence of the oak. The wine is further bottle aged before release, and this aging period is at least equal to the time spent in barrel. In short, the wine is made slowly, carefully, and with extreme care for its evolution. We recommend opening this wine 6-12 hours before drinking; it is one that really benefits from some oxygen contact to fully open it up and allow the complex and delicate flavors to shine through. If you can bear to leave any wine in the bottle once you taste it, it will amaze you on days two and three with continued evolution. 

About the Winery

The name “Punset” comes from the Piemontese dialect and translates to “beautiful hill” or “point”. It is composed of 20 hectares, located on a hill facing the village of Neive within the Neive Crus of Basarin and S. Cristoforo, and has been in the Marcarino family for many years. They grow only native Piemontese varieties. Lorenzo Marcarino, father to current owner and winemaker Marina, commercialized the estate in 1964 and ran things until the early 1980s, at which point Marina took over at the tender age of 20, against the wishes of her parents, who wanted her to pursue a career in engineering. Marina was resolute, and studied enology instead of engineering. She made a deal with her parents that if she ran the estate for a year and was able to turn a profit, they’d let her continue. Almost as soon as Marina took over, she converted the estate to organic farming. She was a trailblazer in this time period not only for that reason, but also just by being a female winemaker, something that is still fairly rare in Italy, with a study conducted as recently as 2018 reporting that about 25% of Italian wineries are run by women. She completed her conversion by 1987 and applied for certification (the first year this was possible in Italy, officially) and received full certification by 1993, becoming the oldest certified organic vineyard in the area. Since that point, Marina has leaned into biodynamic practices also, and the agronomic philosophy of Manasobu Fukuoka, also known as "the agriculture of doing nothing". She plants cover crops between all her vines to encourage biodiversity and beneficial insect populations. Today, the winery also features solar panels to further Marina’s commitment to sustainability.

Pictured: The village of Neive, Piedmont

Barbaresco v. Barolo

Barbaresco is rarely mentioned without its more famous neighbor Barolo, but it is a region more than deserving of its own attention. The regions share many commonalities: the main grape variety, Nebbiolo, is the same in both, and the soils in Barbaresco are predominantly limestone and marl – quite similar to some of the most esteemed areas in Barolo. Most vines in Barbaresco are planted on sloped hills that can be quite steep, but in general vineyards here are at a little lower elevation and in a slightly warmer climate than those of Barolo. This is a big factor in why, historically, Barbaresco wines are characterized as more friendly and approachable than those of Barolo, as Barolo wines from cooler, higher vineyards sites can often take many years to reach drinkability. This mostly has to do with the tannic structure, which in Barolo wines is quite austere initially, and in Barbaresco is less so. That being said, the wines from both regions undergo a long aging period prior to release: for Barbaresco, at least 26 months of aging must take place before bottling, and nine of those months must be in oak barrels. Barbaresco Riserva, of which the Campo Quadro is one, must be aged for over four years before bottling. Of course, in many cases the aging is much longer, and many winemakers including Marina choose to also add some bottle aging to the maturation process before releasing the wines. 

Wine Details

Appellation

The Cru San Cristoforo is one of the named vineyard sites that can be added to the Barbaresco DOCG name, a sub-zone to the commune of Neive, where the Punset winery is located. 

The Wine

100% Nebbiolo grapes that ferment naturally in concrete and age in barrels for over four years, then bottle aged for the same period before release. 

The Food

Be prepared to spend a long time cooking the roast you put together with this wine.