Ca' del Baio Barbaresco 'Autinbej' 2023
Ca' del Baio Barbaresco 'Autinbej' 2023
94 pts Vinous - Galloni
Drinking Window 2026 - 2035
The 2023 Barbaresco Autinbej is superb. Deeply pitched spice and floral notes lead into a core of macerated red cherry fruit, cedar, sweet pipe tobacco, dried herbs and incense. Deep and translucent, yet mid-weight in structure, the 2023 Autinbej is shaping up to be an absolute jewel of a wine. The blend is 60% Montersino, an east-facing site, with south-facing blocks at Marcarini and west-facing blocks at Ferrere.
- By Antonio Galloni, October 2026
The Grasso family embodies Piedmont's artisan tradition at its finest. Giulio Grasso was busy with his 54th harvest when I stopped by to taste the new releases. Readers will note that the range is a bit compact this year. Indeed, there will be no Riservas in 2022, 2023 or 2024. Judging by the 2023s, I am not sure that is a bad thing at all. If anything, the wines have benefited from greater focus. The Barbarescos see about 30 days on skins. In recent years, the family has experimented with a touch of stem inclusion, which can work well in some cases. The Barbarescos are aged in cask, except for the Riservas, which are aged in 500-liter barrels because of their much smaller production.
In tasting, the 2023 Barbarescos are magnificent. The decision to skip the Riservas paid off big time. It was not an easy year, and yet the wines are stellar. "We had more heat stress in 2023 than in 2022," Grasso relayed. "Yields were down 30%, mostly because of smaller bunches. Heat blocked maturation. As a result, alcohols are lower as well." Looking ahead to 2024, Ca’ del Baio will release just one Barbaresco blended across their best-performing sites. Stated simply, these are some of the very finest wines I have tasted in more than 20 years of visiting the estate. Readers who have not tasted these wines in some years should do so.
Our Tasting Note
We just tasted this yesterday as it just landed last Friday in the shop! This reminds me a lot of the 2022 at this time last year, accessible but appropriately Barbaresco. The color robe is a medium ruby red. The nose is pretty, fresh and classic, with notes of cherry, currant, subtle red spices, a chalky minerality, with those trademark tar and roses. The palate is med/med+ bodied, sailing over the palate with med/med+ youthful grain tannins and a very complete, energetic palate of depth and a finish with great length. Another Autinbej winner!
Tradition speaks through Autinbej, it evokes a bygone era when such wines were the union of Nebbiolo grapes from the best, sunniest parts of different crus. Autinbej is a tribute to Giulio Grasso’s late father, Ernesto, who often used the Piemontese word to describe the best vineyard exposures. The first Autinbej harvest was in 2014, a year generally considered difficult in other parts of Piemonte and Italy, but successful in the small enclave of the Barbaresco denomination thanks to very favorable climatic conditions that year.
Planting of vineyards: between 1957 and 1999
Type of soil: bluish clayey-limestone marl
Position: facing south-west
Harvest: between the end of September and the beginning of October (2015 was an earlier pick)
Vinification and Aging: The destemmed and pressed grapes ferment on the skins in temperature-controlled steel tanks for 5 to 30 days. The wine then matures in wood for 24 months, partly in oak casks and partly in small used French barrels, before continuing its aging in the bottle for 6 months.
