The 2017 Barbaresco Riserva Pora (with 13,333 bottles released) is usually the first wine I taste each year when I review this set of Riservas from Produttori del Barbaresco. That's because it usually appears as the most delicate, and the intensity of each successive bottle increases after this one. But these schematics are a bit more difficult to align in a hot and dry vintage such as this that produced richer and more succulent fruit across the board. The Pora is redolent of red and purple fruit with a little more blackberry and plum compared to previous editions. The tannic strength of the wine is also more elaborate. Pora works very well in 2017.

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.

Following the suggestion of Produttori del Barbaresco General Manager Renato Vacca, I am starting off this series of nine Riservas with the 2015 Barbaresco Riserva Pora. This wine is usually the most delicate, slender and ephemeral of this set. However, I can immediately confirm that this is not necessarily the case with this exuberant 2015 vintage. The sunny heat of the growing season has successfully drawn out more fruit weight and intensity in this edition of Pora. The wine overdelivers in terms of aromas, but its streamlined and polished personality follows through to the palate. Those divergent intensity levels will smooth out with more bottle age. Some 16,666 bottles were released.

I had tasted this vintage last year as a barrel sample. Now a fully complete wine, the 2014 Barbaresco Riserva Pora did not disappoint, and even jumped up a few points. The Riserva Pora opens to dark fruit intensity with a slightly more accessible quality. Those lovely floral tones of lavender and violet are ever present. After having spent three years in oak and another year in the bottle, this wine offers a looser mouthfeel in terms of tannic structure, making it a bit more open and immediate in personality. You could uncork this bottle in 2020 if you just can't wait, but ideally, it is meant for the longer haul.