This cuvée is showing a tad more new oak now than it did back when Giacomo was still alive. His daughter is still making one of the most complex and classy examples of Barbera to be found, but the wine is a bit more polished as a result of the wood. The bouquet on the 2001 is excellent (particularly after twenty minutes or so in decanter), as it offers up a lovely mélange of red cherries, woodsmoke, a bit of nuttiness, gamebirds, coffee, a lovely base of soil and a touch of vanillin oak. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, focused and tangy, with excellent mid-palate depth, bright acids, modest tannins, and excellent length and grip on the soil-driven finish. A lovely bottle that is just now beginning to hit its apogee.