Wine Advisor
Bruno Rocca, Barbaresco Rabaja 2018
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: James Suckling
The floral aromas are so attractive here, with lavender and sage undertones. Orange blossoms, too. Full-bodied and layered, with serious depth of fruit and layered tannins for the vintage. Well done. Try after 2025.
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
The 2018 Barbaresco Rabajà is the most complete of the 2018s Barbarescos at Bruno Rocca. It offers gorgeous depth, naturally in the understated style of the year. Lavender, spice, menthol and pine accents lend aromatic nuance throughout. The Rabajà is on the lighter side of things, as many wines are in 2018, and yet all the elements are nicely integrated.
About the Producer
Bruno Rocca is a critically well-regarded, family-owned wine estate based in the Barbaresco region of Piedmont, in northwest Italy. It makes wines from various Piemontese appellations and varieties but is best known for its complex, refined, aromatic Nebbiolo wines from the Barbaresco DOCG. For many decades the family operated a mixed farm, but the modern estate began to take shape in 1958, when the family moved from the centre of Barbaresco to the south of the prized Rabajà zone and bought some prime vineyards. Initially, the harvested grapes were sold to the Barbaresco co-operative. This continued until 1978, when Bruno Rocca took over the estate and made the first wines under the family name. In the 1990s, the winery gained an international reputation and began to acquire further vineyards. In all, there are about 15 hectares (37 acres) of estate vineyards, including the 3.5-hectare (8.6-acre) plot in Rabajà (where there is also some Dolcetto) and plots in four further Barbaresco crus (vineyards), with some Chardonnay and Barbera alongside the Nebbiolo. Further from home, the company owns three hectares (7.5 acres) in the Monferrato Astigiano area, devoted to Barbera d'Asti. The winemaking style at Bruno Rocca is generally regarded as "modernist". Barbaresco grapes are fermented in wooden vats, with stainless steel tanks used for other wines. Individual vineyards are vinified separately, with larger vineyards divided into plots. Fermentations use native yeasts and have medium-to-long maceration times (on skins). Grapes are destemmed prior to ferment although ferments are almost entirely whole grapes (i.e. the grapes are not crushed following destemming), with delicate pumpovers and no punchdowns. The aim is to keep skins as intact as possible until the fermented wine is run off or pressed. Thereafter, aging takes place in carefully specified French oak barriques and larger barrels (tonneaux).
