Winemaker Notes
The Rabajà vineyard is one of the most historic, famous, and sought-out crus of Barbaresco. It gives us top-quality labels that will age for years to come, with aromas, typicity, and powerful but balanced tannins.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This opens with floral notes of roses and hints of white flowers, red fruit and cedar. The palate is very complete, well constructed and multidimensional, with fine-grained tannins and neatly packed red fruit flavors that conclude with a compact finish.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Bruno Rocca's 2020 Barbaresco Rabajà is a wine of clarity and definition. This special vineyard site is always distinguished by the clean sharpness of its fruit. Red and blue fruits cede to etched notes of crushed stone and toasted spice. These aromas engage in a delicate dance in a manner only the Nebbiolo grape can achieve. The tannins are polished and firm but also more approachable in this vintage.
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Vinous
The 2020 Barbaresco Rabajà offers a beguiling combination of richness from the warm year with the elegance and translucence that mark the wines here today. Dark tonalities of Nebbiolo fruit open first, followed by scents of leather, spice and blood orange. This heady, beguiling Barbaresco has a ton of potential, as evidenced by how beautifully it opens with aeration. I can't wait to see how this develops. Here, too the benefits of bottling earlier are evident. The 2020 is a striking wine.
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Wine Spectator
Aromas and flavors of cherry and strawberry are shaded by earth and floral accents in this elegant red. Firmly structured, with grainy tannins that linger, along with licorice and wild herb notes. Just a tad chewy in the end, but this should blossom in a year or two. Best from 2026 through 2040. 526 cases made, 55 cases imported.
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Wine Enthusiast
Loads of warm spice envelop the senses, like a cozy kitchen filled with the aromas of cherry pie baking in the oven. Think cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves, all mingling with the sweetness of sandalwood. On the palate, this wine is a plush and juicy delight, with generous flavors of mixed berries that seem macerated and preserved. There’s a hint of licorice root adding complexity and the finish is both generous and giving, with savory herb notes that linger pleasantly.
Responsible for some of the most elegant and age-worthy wines in the world, Nebbiolo, named for the ubiquitous autumnal fog (called nebbia in Italian), is the star variety of northern Italy’s Piedmont region. Grown throughout the area, as well as in the neighboring Valle d’Aosta and Valtellina, it reaches its highest potential in the Piedmontese villages of Barolo, Barbaresco and Roero. Outside of Italy, growers are still very much in the experimentation stage but some success has been achieved in parts of California. Somm Secret—If you’re new to Nebbiolo, start with a charming, wallet-friendly, early-drinking Langhe Nebbiolo or Nebbiolo d'Alba.
A wine that most perfectly conveys the spirit and essence of its place, Barbaresco is true reflection of terroir. Its star grape, like that in the neighboring Barolo region, is Nebbiolo. Four townships within the Barbaresco zone can produce Barbaresco: the actual village of Barbaresco, as well as Neive, Treiso and San Rocco Seno d'Elvio.
Broadly speaking there are more similarities in the soils of Barbaresco and Barolo than there are differences. Barbaresco’s soils are approximately of the same two major soil types as Barolo: blue-grey marl of the Tortonion epoch, producing more fragile and aromatic characteristics, and Helvetian white yellow marl, which produces wines with more structure and tannins.
Nebbiolo ripens earlier in Barbaresco than in Barolo, primarily due to the vineyards’ proximity to the Tanaro River and lower elevations. While the wines here are still powerful, Barbaresco expresses a more feminine side of Nebbiolo, often with softer tannins, delicate fruit and an elegant perfume. Typical in a well-made Barbaresco are expressions of rose petal, cherry, strawberry, violets, smoke and spice. These wines need a few years before they reach their peak, the best of which need over a decade or longer. Bottle aging adds more savory characteristics, such as earth, iron and dried fruit.