The 2016 Barbaresco Riserva Pora is a brooding wine, its mid-weight structure notwithstanding. Iron, smoke, tobacco, cedar and dried flowers add a feral, earthy quality that is so appealing. Pora is often one of the more approachable Riservas in this range, but the 2016 is an exception. Readers should be prepared to cellar it for at least a few years.

Starting off this tasting of new Riservas from Produttori del Barbaresco is the 2016 Barbaresco Riserva Pora. This is a beautifully elegant and silky wine with a soft entry of wild berry fruit, lilac and wild rose. The bouquet opens gracefully with a fluid, slow-building intensity that feels silky and delicate to all the senses. It holds back from showing any overt or determined level of power, remaining instead silky and smooth throughout. It treads quietly and softly. Production is 13,403 bottles, and fruit is sourced from the Dellaferrera and Manzone family vineyards. I came back to this wine 24 hours after the bottle was open and added one more point to my score.

This red is saturated with bright cherry, strawberry and currant fruit. Mint, iron, tar and green, vegetal elements peek through as this evolves on the palate through the long finish. Assertive tannins put the grip on the finish, yet the intense fruit will come forward with time. Best from 2025 through 2045.