Cooperatives are not an unusual phenomenon in Europe. Almost every growing region on the continent has at least one place where growers with no ability to make their own wine can send their grapes and get a decent return on their hard work. Most aren’t really known for quality. But one, in particular, is, and that’s the famous Produttori del Barbaresco. Growing out of the original Cantina Sociale founded by nine local growers near the town of Barbaresco in 1894, the Produttori crushed its first grapes in 1958. The concept from the very beginning was simple: do only one thing, and do it very, very well. Located just up from the town’s (now deconsecrated) church, the facility handles only one type of grape and one type of grape only: Nebbiolo. And, from that grape (grown now by 51 individual member-farmers) the facility produces only two wines and, when the harvest is particularly good, a third level of Riserva made from the nine original vineyards. If you visit Barbaresco in the fall, you’ll see a conga line of tractors pulling all manner of trailers stacked with fragrant Nebbiolo lined up at the cellar door where, under the watchful eye of longtime director Aldo Vacca, each batch of grapes is graded, kept separate and ticketed for a fermentation zone in the cantina where, after further evaluation a year or so after it has become wine, will wind up as either the cantina’s extra-special Barbaresco or the winery’s equally distinctive, top-quality Langhe Nebbiolo. It’s this latter wine, which by rights (and a little more time in cask) could itself be called Barbaresco, that shows just special are the wines produced here. Langhe Nebbiolo can be difficult for a consumer to grasp as, depending on the producer, they can be light, juicy and easy-drinking while others can be dead serious wines- Barolos or Barbarescos, just in a minor key. Produttori’s always falls somewhere in the latter camp. Tasted at the cantina last fall, the just-arrived 2023 is an absolutely superb wine, the perfect wine to make from this sort of warm harvest. Here’s a wine that shows its pedigree in the extra vibrancy and panache of this outstanding under $30 wine. Snappy and vivid, with a savory aromatic and textural profile that makes it irresistible even now, it’s a lovely saturated cherry red with Nebbiolo’s spicy, plummy and earth-driven aromatics on lovely display. It’s medium-weight, but with enough cherry confit-like gras to cover its bones, more-so, in fact, than many of the past vintages. Put another way, since I own a wine store, I rarely ever feel the need to buy a case of anything, but with this wine, I will make an exception. Drink now or keep at least another six or eight years. Very highly recommended.