The estate's classic Barbaresco: Nebbiolo from Neive, thirty months in French oak. Red fruit and spice, fine tannin and the ability to wait another ten years.
Garnet red with an orange gleam at the rim, translucent as Nebbiolo should be. The nose is classic and opens slowly: red cherry and dried rose, behind them tar, cinnamon, leather and a balsamic note from the long wood ageing. The palate is elegant rather than heavy, its middle carried by fruit and acidity together. The tannin is clearly present but fine-grained and already knitted in, drawing the finish out dry and long. Spice and ripe red fruit run alongside each other there for a long time. Serve at 18 degrees and decant an hour ahead, even at this stage of its life.
Cantina Francone has worked out of Neive, in the heart of Barbaresco, since 1892. Five generations on, Marco and Fabrizio Francone run the family estate, whose reputation rests above all on the Gallina hill: a south-facing cru listed on Renato Ratti's historic map of Barbaresco crus.
This Barbaresco comes from parcels spread across the commune of Neive. Where a cru wine magnifies the quirks of a single hill, I Patriarchi looks for balance: together the sites give a wine that shows the character of the commune rather than of one slope.
Hand-picked around 10 to 15 October, the last of the year. Fermentation is traditional, with roughly twelve days of maceration on the skins.
The wine then spends thirty months in French oak barrels. The name refers to the patriarchs of the family — the generations who planted these vineyards.
Exclusive wines from around the world 
