Fabio Gea Barbaresco is in the elite class of wines that, more or less, are not available to regular consumers. This isn’t just a wine; it’s a trophy that is typically awarded to the most well-connected sommeliers and tenacious collectors. In the rare instances when a small amount leaves Italy, it is immediately chiseled into three- and six-bottle allocations and sent to top restaurants in New York, Paris, and Tokyo. Gea has no website, no tasting room, and no direct-to-consumer mailing list. So, while most finger-on-the-pulse Italian wine enthusiasts have seen his bottles gushed about on top influencers’ Instagram feeds, acquiring a coveted allocation is another story altogether. For the current generation of cutting-edge sommeliers, these cryptic, minimalistic, hand-labeled bottles are the holy grail. is a vivid and transcendent an expression of the timeless Barbaresco terroir. 

This “Notu Seguiva” bottling delivers devastating aromatics and deep minerality while still remaining balanced and deeply thirst-quenching. And, as all truly epic wines do, this bottle evolves dramatically in the hours after the cork is pulled. First, a white-knuckled tightrope balancing act between alpine strawberry and atomized limestone. Then, as more oxygen enters the equation, lush waves of dark cherry, tobacco, and fine leather begin to crash. Finally, many hours in, this bottle hits a sweet spot wherein ethereal truffle and poached fig notes echo into a seemingly endless finish. Cheers!