Barbaresco Faset Magnum

The 2022 Faset arrived with a new face. The copper-and-gold label of earlier vintages gave way to a pale one drawn with fine lines, the family's four-leaf clover at the bottom. The wine behind it is the same Barbaresco from the same cru, here in magnum.

The Nebbiolo grows on south-west-facing slopes in Faset, on Sant'Agata marls with limestone and clay. It ferments in temperature-controlled steel, stays on its skins a little longer, and ages around a year in a large French oak cask.

The Enoteca Regionale del Barbaresco describes a hot, dry year: a winter short of rain and a summer often above 35C, which stressed the vines most on the best-exposed slopes. September brought rain and wide day-to-night swings that helped the grapes ripen. The drought reduced production across the zone.

A new label, and a summer that tested the sunniest slopes hardest.