2021 Cascina delle Rose Barbaresco Tre Stelle

Cascina delle Rose is one of those old-school Barbaresco producers that just quietly gets on with the job - farming organically, making wine the traditional way, and letting their vineyards do the talking. Third-generation brothers Riccardo and Davide run the show now, and nothing’s rushed or overworked. No new oak, no flashy tricks - just long, gentle macerations and ageing in big old Slavonian botti. It’s all about purity and feel.

Their Tre Stelle bottling is something special. It comes from a tiny, higher-elevation section at the top of the Rio Sordo cru. It’s mostly limestone and marine marl up there, and that shows in the wine. Tre Stelle has always been the most lifted and elegant of their Barbarescos, but 2021 gives it a bit more flesh and drive than usual - ripe red fruit, layered texture, and tannins that grip without ever getting in the way.

This vintage is being quietly talked about as one of the greats. It’s got presence and polish, but it doesn’t shout. Just a beautiful, honest expression of place and season.

96+ points
"Ripe cherry, aniseed, rose petals, spice, and blonde tobacco lead into a medium-bodied, succulent wine with dark red fruit and mineral acidity. Firm, ripe tannins with a brick dust texture and a tea-and-rose finish of superb length. So bloody good."
- Gary Walsh (The Wine Front)

95 points
"Exceedingly graceful with wild berry, white currant, violet, and sweet earth. Polished and glossy in texture, with freshness and finesse from fossil-rich Sant'Agata marl soils. A beautifully classic vintage."
- Monica Larner (The Wine Advocate)