DOCG Red

La Spinetta Barbaresco Gallina DOCG

Azienda Agricola La Spinetta

Grape
Nebbiolo
Denomination
Barbaresco DOCG
Region
Piedmont
ABV
14.5%

La Spinetta's single-vineyard Barbaresco from Gallina at Neive: 100% Nebbiolo, organically farmed, around 22 months in French oak. Velvety tannins, wild-berry and rose-petal aromas, a long savoury finish. Suckling scored the 2021 96 points.

Best price
£98.96

2021 · 75cl · checked 25 Oct · Delivery charged at checkout

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Vintages 2023 2022 2021 2017 2006

Prices read daily from 6 UK retailers. We earn a commission on some links; it never changes the order.

Where to buy Azienda Agricola Spinetta Barbaresco Gallina

£98.96 best price · 6 retailers in stock · checked 25 Oct 2026

Stock is shown where the retailer publishes it, offers are sorted by price, and unavailable offers can’t be clicked.

8wines Best price 2021 · 75cl · checked 25 Oct · Delivery charged at checkout Code NEWCUST8J: Enter NEWCUST8J to get £8 off with the minimum wine order of £88. Valid only for new customers, until 31 Dec 2027
Read from the retailer's page once a day. Confidence is low, so treat it as a guide and confirm at the retailer.
£98.96 £131.95/L
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XtraWine Best price 2022 · 75cl · checked 25 Oct · Delivery charge shown at checkout
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£105.00 £140.00/L
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Vino.com Best price Save 14% 2022 · 75cl · checked 25 Oct · Delivery usually £16.90, free on 2 bottles Code WINE6R8T: £17 off your first wine order with £180 minimum spend, until 13 Jan 2028
Read from the retailer's page once a day. Confidence is low, so treat it as a guide and confirm at the retailer.
£106.00 was regular price £123.26 £141.33/L
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XtraWine Best price 2006 · 75cl · checked 25 Oct · Delivery charge shown at checkout
Read from the retailer's page once a day. Confidence is low, so treat it as a guide and confirm at the retailer.
£109.00 £145.33/L
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XtraWine Best price 2023 · 75cl · checked 25 Oct · Delivery charge shown at checkout
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£118.00 £157.33/L
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Great Wines Direct Best price 2021 · 75cl · checked 25 Oct · Delivery £7.95, min 6 bottles
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£126.02 £168.03/L
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The Great Wine Co. Best price Save 12% 2021 · 75cl · checked 25 Oct · Free delivery
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£128.00 was regular price £145.00 £170.67/L
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Field & Fawcett Best price 2017 · 75cl · checked 25 Oct · Delivery £9.99, or £14.99 for 3+ bottles, free on 2 bottles
Read from the retailer's page once a day. Confidence is low, so treat it as a guide and confirm at the retailer.
£130.00 £173.33/L
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Stock status is read from each retailer’s page once a day and may lag.

Tasting Notes

Tasting La Spinetta Barbaresco Gallina

Earthy leather, sweet oak and red cherry lead, and James Suckling gave the 2021 96 points. Expect Nebbiolo's tar-and-rose signature wrapped in 22 months of French-oak ageing.

Tasted by
ItalianWines editorial
Tasted on
11 June 2026
Vintage in glass
2021
Source
Drinker consensus · confidence Medium
Typical of Nebbiolo
Body Light / Full
Tannins Smooth / Grippy
Sweetness Dry / Sweet
Acidity Soft / Crisp
Nose

Classic Nebbiolo perfume of wild berry, dried rose petal and violet. With it comes the tar and leather edge Gallina fruit takes on with age. Twenty-two months in French oak add cedar, sweet tobacco and a wisp of woodsmoke. Earthy leather and sweet oak are what you notice most.

Rose petalRose petal
VioletViolet
CherryCherry
PlumPlum
RaspberryRaspberry
TobaccoTobacco
TarTar
LeatherLeather
LiquoriceLiquorice
Palate

This is medium-bodied and polished, with bright red cherry and plum lifted by the racy acidity James Suckling singled out in the 2021. Tannins are firm but fine-grained, the velvety texture La Spinetta aims for from this south-facing, limestone-and-clay vineyard. The juice soaks on the skins for only 7 to 8 days, so the fruit stays fresh rather than heavy.

Finish

The finish is long and savoury, closing on liquorice, balsamic spice and a floral echo. Bottled without fining or filtration, the wine keeps a fine-grained grip.

Overall

This is a small-production single-vineyard Barbaresco, around 6,500 bottles a year, near the top of La Spinetta's Neive range. Drinkers like the 2021. It drinks well now but has the structure for a decade or more.

Drink now Best by 2041
Live UK pricing

Buying La Spinetta Gallina in the UK

La Spinetta makes only about 6,500 bottles of Gallina a vintage, so this is a small-production Barbaresco. The 2021 currently lists between roughly £101 and £145 across three UK merchants.

Best price · 75 cl · 2021 £98.96 at 8wines
Price spread · 75cl · 2021 £98.96 - £128.00 Across 3 UK retailers with 75cl · 2021 in stock
Retailers · 75cl · 2021 3UK 3 in stock
Vintages live 2023 · 2022 · 2021 Current release: 2023
Per-litre (75cl · 2021 basis) £131.95 Lowest current 75cl · 2021 offer
Last checked 25 Oct 2026 Refreshed once every 24 hours
Other vintages and formats: 4 price lines

75cl · 2006: £109.00, 1 UK retailer

75cl · 2017: £130.00, 1 UK retailer

75cl · 2022: £105.00 - £106.00, 2 UK retailers

75cl · 2023: £118.00, 1 UK retailer

Wine fit score

How the Gallina rates across six uses

A structured DOCG Barbaresco at £100-plus is strong at the table and in the cellar, less an everyday pour. The scores below weigh food, value, cellar potential and occasion.

Best with food 9.0/10

Bright Nebbiolo acidity and firm, fine-grained tannins make it a natural with red meat, game and aged cheese.

Best for an occasion 9.0/10

A single-vineyard DOCG Barbaresco from a benchmark Neive producer: a genuine occasion wine.

Best for cellar 8.8/10

Barbaresco DOCG ageing, 22 months in French oak and Nebbiolo's structure give a decade-plus cellar life.

Best intro to this style 4.2/10

A classic indigenous Nebbiolo, but firm tannins, a savoury profile and a £100-plus price make it a step beyond beginner reds.

Best value 3.8/10

At about £101 it sits near 1.7x the £59 Barbaresco median; a single vineyard priced for scarcity, not value.

Best everyday bottle 1.8/10

Structured, tannic and £100-plus: a special-occasion bottle rather than a midweek pour.

Scoring is rule-based and deterministic. The model and weightings are documented in our Wine Fit Score methodology.

Denomination Compliance Snapshot

Barbaresco in five fields

A compact view of what the Barbaresco denomination actually requires, and how this bottle sits inside it. Pulled from the official Italian disciplinare.

Allowed grapes
1 varieties listed
This bottle: Nebbiolo.
Minimum ageing
26 months minimum
Of which 9 months in oak.
Region / area
Cuneo, Langhe: Barbaresco, Neive, Treiso and Alba's San Rocco Seno d'Elvio fraction
Source: Disciplinare.
Style
DOCG · Barbaresco
Minimum ABV at this colour: 12.5%.
Classification
DOCG (Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita)
What that means →
Vintages

The 2021 Gallina vintage

2021 was a cool, classic Piedmont vintage that gave Barbaresco firm structure and freshness. James Suckling rated La Spinetta's 2021 Gallina 96 points for its bright stem, plum and raspberry fruit and racy tannins.

2023 Current release
Best price
£118.00
Retailers
1 in stock
2022 Previous release
Best price
£105.00
Retailers
2 in stock
2021 Previous release
Best price
£98.96
Retailers
3 in stock
ABV
14.5%
Window
Drink now through 2041

2021 was a cool, classic Piedmont vintage that gave Barbaresco firm structure and freshness. La Spinetta's Gallina shows bright plum and raspberry over racy, fine-grained tannins; James Suckling rated it 96 points.

2017 Previous release
Best price
£130.00
Retailers
1 in stock
2021 Previous release
Best price
£98.96
Retailers
3 in stock
ABV
14.5%
Window
Drink now through 2041

2021 was a cool, classic Piedmont vintage that gave Barbaresco firm structure and freshness. La Spinetta's Gallina shows bright plum and raspberry over racy, fine-grained tannins; James Suckling rated it 96 points.

Drink-now / hold guidance reflects general style cues for this wine, not a forecast for a specific bottle. Where vintage-level editorial notes exist, they appear above.

The disciplinare, the place, the label

La Spinetta and the Gallina cru at Neive

Giorgio Rivetti's La Spinetta farms 5.5 hectares of south-facing Gallina at Neive, on limestone-and-clay soil, with vines averaging 55 years. The estate has bottled this single vineyard, under its Dürer rhinoceros label, since 1995.

01

DOC, DOCG, IGT: what the badges mean

Italian wine law sorts bottles into a pyramid. DOCG sits at the top: tightly drawn boundaries, prescribed grapes, mandatory ageing, government tasting before release. DOC is the same idea with looser thresholds. IGT (Indicazione Geografica Tipica) is broader still, requiring only that 85% of the grapes come from the named territory.

Barbaresco is in the DOCG tier. That is not a quality verdict, it is a description of how much freedom the producer has at vinification and ageing.

02

The denomination rules, in detail

  • Allowed grapes. 1 varieties listed in the disciplinare
  • Yield ceiling. 8.0 tonnes per hectare
  • Minimum ABV. 12.5% vol
  • Minimum ageing. 26 months total (of which 9 in oak)
  • Tasting panel. Mandatory pre-release tasting commission
03

Region and area context

Barbaresco falls within Piedmont, covering Cuneo, Langhe: Barbaresco, Neive, Treiso and Alba's San Rocco Seno d'Elvio fraction. The denomination is further divided into 4 sub-zones.

Barbaresco DOCG zone Wine route in the zone

Made at Azienda Agricola La Spinetta, Castagnole delle Lanze.

Wine route in the zone: Langhe Nebbiolo Route.

04

Reading the label

  • Azienda Agricola La SpinettaProducer / estate
  • NebbioloGrape varieties
  • Barbaresco DOCGGeographic indication and quality tier
  • 2023Vintage (year of harvest)
  • Imbottigliato all’origineEstate-bottled
05

What sits behind the price of Azienda Agricola Spinetta Barbaresco Gallina

Tracked from
£98.96
Direction
Mostly cost up
Drivers
5 up / 1 down
Main factor
Single-vineyard Gallina cru, about 6,500 bottles a year
  1. 01

    Single-vineyard Gallina cru, about 6,500 bottles a year

    Cost up

    La Spinetta declares roughly 6,500 bottles each vintage from 5.5 hectares at Neive, so scarcity rather than volume sets the £100-plus UK price.

  2. 02

    55-year-old Nebbiolo vines, organically farmed

    Cost up

    Vines averaging 55 years on south-facing limestone-and-clay soil give low yields of concentrated fruit, and organic farming adds vineyard labour.

  3. 03

    22 months in French oak barriques, 20% new

    Cost up

    La Spinetta ages the Gallina around 22 months in small French oak barrels, a fifth new each year, adding barrel and cellar cost beyond the DOCG rules' nine-month minimum.

  4. 04

    Critic acclaim and the Durer rhinoceros label

    Cost up

    James Suckling's 96 points for the 2021 and the collectable rhinoceros label support a premium over generic Barbaresco.

  5. 05

    UK duty and VAT

    Cost up

    UK still-wine duty is about £2.67 a bottle at 2026 rates, and 20% VAT on a £100.76 listing is roughly £16.80. Tax alone is near £19.50 before retailer margin.

  6. 06

    Released young, unlike the Riserva

    Cost down

    The standard Gallina reaches market after about 22 months, not the ten-plus years of La Spinetta's Riserva magnums, which limits its cellar-holding cost.

01

Single-vineyard Gallina cru, about 6,500 bottles a year

Cost up

La Spinetta declares roughly 6,500 bottles each vintage from 5.5 hectares at Neive, so scarcity rather than volume sets the £100-plus UK price.

Perfect Pairings

Dishes that go with this wine

Fillet steak, plated

Fillet steak
Food Pairing

Pairing Barbaresco Gallina with food

Nebbiolo's firm tannins and bright acidity call for fat and umami. La Spinetta points to mushroom risotto and white meat, while most drinkers reach for beef, lamb and game.

Tannin softening Strong match

Braised beef and Piedmont stews

Nebbiolo's firm tannin binds to the fat and gelatin in slow-braised beef, softening its grip, while bright acidity cuts the richness of a brasato or ossobuco.

Try with: Brasato al Barolo · Ossobuco alla Milanese · Venison Stew · More pairings →

Fat cutting Strong match

Roast and grilled red meat

High acidity and fine tannin scrub fat from roast beef and grilled lamb, and the wine's medium body matches their weight without overwhelming the meat.

Try with: Fiorentina steak · Sunday Roast Beef · Rack of lamb

Aromatic bridge Good match

Mushroom and truffle dishes

Gallina's earthy leather and dried-rose aromatics bridge to mushroom and truffle, echoing Nebbiolo's forest-floor character, while acidity keeps a creamy risotto fresh.

Try with: Porcini mushroom risotto · Truffle risotto · Tagliatelle al tartufo di Acqualagna · More pairings →

Body matching Good match

Aged hard cheeses

The wine's body and structure stand up to aged Piedmontese cheeses, while its acidity refreshes the palate against their salt and fat.

Try with: Castelmagno · Parmigiano Reggiano · mature pecorino

Fat cutting Good match

Rich meat-sauce pasta

Acidity lifts a rich ragu and fine tannin handles the meat's fat, so a lasagne or agnolotti del plin stays balanced rather than heavy.

Try with: Lasagna · Agnolotti del Plin · Agnello Ragu Lucano · More pairings →

Avoid Clash

Delicate fish and raw shellfish

Firm tannin and oak overwhelm delicate white fish and raw shellfish, leaving a metallic, drying clash; this wine wants fat and protein, not briny sweetness.

Skip with: Nigiri Sushi · Oysters · Squid ink risotto · Pairing guide →

Drinking + cellar

Cellaring La Spinetta Gallina

With 22 months in French oak barrels and Nebbiolo's structure, the Gallina rewards patience; merchants suggest a decade or more. La Spinetta also holds back a tiny run of Riserva magnums for at least ten years.

Decanting
1 hour

A short splash decant softens the first-pour edge and opens the aromatics.

Serving temperature
16-18°C

Aim for the cooler end on a warm day; warmer end opens up more aromatics.

Cellar potential
High

Barbaresco DOCG ageing, 22 months in French oak and Nebbiolo's structure give a decade-plus cellar life.

Buy now or wait?
Buy now

£98.96 for a 75cl bottle of the 2021, at 8wines, is the best price we track, and we have no signal of further discounting.

Sources & trust

Sources behind these Gallina notes

Prices & stock

Read directly from each retailer’s public product page once a day. Last refresh: 25 Oct 2026, 03:06 BST. We do not hold stock and we do not accept payment for placement.

Confidence · High
Tasting notes

Drawn from what drinkers consistently report on Vivino, summarised in our own words. A crowd read across many tasters, not a single critic. Drinkers score it 4.3 out of 5 from 64 ratings on Vivino.

Confidence · Medium
Appellation rules & ageing

From the official Italian disciplinare for this denomination, cross-checked against the Ministry of Agriculture register.

Confidence · High
Why it costs what it costs

Our reading of the price, drawn from the disciplinare, public UK duty rates, and typical landed-cost benchmarks. Not a quote from the producer or a retailer.

Confidence · Medium
Drink window & cellar potential

Style guidance for this kind of wine at this price point. Treat it as advice, not a forecast for the bottle in your hand.

Confidence · Medium
Related

Explore Barbaresco, Nebbiolo and La Spinetta

Producer
Azienda Agricola La Spinetta Piedmont
Grapes
Nebbiolo
Denomination
Barbaresco DOCG
Region
Piedmont Region guide
Cuisine
International Cuisine 1 dishes paired

Common Questions

La Spinetta, the Rivetti family estate based at Castagnole delle Lanze, makes Barbaresco Gallina from a 5.5-hectare single vineyard in the Gallina area at Neive. It is 100% Nebbiolo and carries the estate's Albrecht Dürer rhinoceros label.

It is a soft, perfumed Barbaresco with velvety tannins, aromas of wild berry, dried rose and violet, and a savoury edge of tar, leather and sweet oak. The finish is long and floral, and drinkers like it.

Serve it with braised and roast red meat, game, mushroom and truffle dishes, rich meat-sauce pasta and aged Piedmontese cheeses. Its firm tannins and bright acidity cut through fat and stand up to umami.

The 2021 drinks well now but has the structure to cellar for a decade or more. La Spinetta ages it around 22 months in French oak, and a strong vintage like 2021 rewards patience to roughly 2041.

Yes. La Spinetta farms the Gallina vineyard organically, and the wine is bottled without fining or filtration.

The 2021 currently lists between about £101 and £145 across three UK retailers. That is well above the typical Barbaresco price because of single-vineyard scarcity, with only about 6,500 bottles made each year.

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Azienda Agricola Spinetta Barbaresco Gallina
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