If there were such a thing as a wine value hall of fame (maybe we need to create one), De Forville Barbaresco would surely be on it. Year in, year out, DeForville used to fly under the radar while bottling astoundingly pure and traditional Barbaresco at a price that often fell somewhere between one-half and one-third of my other favorite wines in the appellation.
I say “used to” because that all changed recently. Following a string of truly spectacular releases and then a February New York Times article that crowned DeForville the top wine in the appellation (even while competing with an honor roll of big names and far-higher prices), this has become one of the hottest wines in Northern Italy. SommSelect used to enjoy unfettered, year-round access to DeForville but henceforth, we will be limited to one purchase per year! I visited the estate with my great friend Carlo Mondavi last month and can confirm the wines have never been better. So, please join us in seizing this moment and experiencing one of Barbaresco’s greats at a rock-bottom price. Did I mention 2015 is an absolutely spellbinding vintage? You really count lose here.
As most of our subscribers are well aware by now, this is a winery of impeccable credentials, with a top-to-bottom lineup as consistently excellent and reasonably priced as I’ve ever seen. And as I was casting around for a way to pay proper homage to De Forville and this 2015 Barbaresco, I thought of another Italian legend (and perhaps the most glaring absentee from this year’s World Cup): veteran Juventus and Italian National Team goalkeeper Gianluigi “Gigi” Buffon. This guy has been a mainstay of Italian soccer for the last two decades and is one of the all-time greats in the sport. You see where I’m going with this? De Forville is as sure a thing as there is in Italian wine, especially in a universally celebrated vintage like 2015. How it remains available for less than $40 in today’s market is beyond my comprehension.
The De Forville family began producing wine in Barbaresco in the mid-1800s. Gioachino De Forville made Nebbiolo the family’s focus early on before being succeeded by his son, Vincenzo, who was followed by his nephew, Paolo, who passed the torch to his daughter, Mafalda, who is honored now by her sons and current proprietors, Valter and Paolo. Confused yet? To recap, De Forville is a small family business that has endured two World Wars and overcome countless challenges during its 150-year evolution from rural farm to respected winemaking dynasty. This multi-generation commitment to grueling manual labor, tradition and excellence is how remote hillsides become the world’s greatest wine terroirs. In the last decade, De Forville has grown into a mid-size estate by Piedmont standards, with about 11 hectares of vines in two different villages. There is a clear line drawn between the family’s modestly priced, fresh and quaffable young-release Dolcetto, Barbera, and Chardonnay, versus the more serious, barrel-aged Nebbiolo-based Barbaresco bottlings for which they are known.
Fruit for this flagship Barbaresco is sourced from vines averaging 35 years of age, and includes some grapes from well-known Barbaresco ‘cru’ vineyards such as “Rabaja” and “Pozzo.” Fermented in stainless steel and aged 18 months in large, used, Slavonian oak
botti, it’s always a well-proportioned, invitingly aromatic Barbaresco archetype, with perhaps an extra layer of fruit and a touch more ‘early drinkability’ in the 2015 vintage. In the glass, it’s a medium garnet red moving to pink at the rim, with a textbook nose of black cherry, wild red and black berries, roses, tar, leather, and a hint of black tea. It is medium-bodied and more modestly tannic than your typical young Barbaresco/Barolo, which makes it relatively approachable young: Even so, at least a half hour in a decanter is recommended; there’s clear structure for aging here and it should really be singing on its 10th birthday. Serve it in Burgundy stems at 60-65 degrees and pair it with an unimpeachable Piedmontese classic—risotto. It deserves nothing less!
