Winemaker Notes
Unfiltered to preserve its richness, this remarkably elegant Barbaresco offers concentrated aromas of raspberries, roses, violets, leather and spice. Full-bodied with robust flavor and firm tannins.
This Barbaresco pairs well with roasted meat or wild game dishes.
Professional Ratings
-
Decanter
With all due respect to the estate Barbaresco, the flagship Rabajà bottling rightly boasts greater concentration, density and richer fruit given its mostly southwest exposure and warmer microclimate. At the same time, it retains absolute purity and balance. Limpid scents of raspberry, crushed allspice and mint blossom captivate. The palate demonstrates tension and textural depth with a mineral sensation simmering under the succulent dark berry core. The tannins are ripe but give a properly assertive grip. I remember walking through Rabajà in early October 2022, and the estate was one of the few that still had grapes on the vines. Clearly their decision to wait paid off.
-
Wine Enthusiast
Dried cherry, rose petal, and the faint trace of sun-warmed earth drift up with ease, like walking the ridgeline of Rabajà at dusk. There's something grounded and self-possessed here, with fruit that's generous but never showy. Fine tannins stretch across the palate, firm but forgiving. This wine carries the calm strength of its vineyard. Drink from 2026.
-
James Suckling
A simple, garden-variety Barbaresco that’s very precise and pure on the nose, with strawberries, red cherries, blood oranges, flowers and spices. Firm on the palate, with dusty tannins, crisp acidity and a medium body. Balanced finish. Drinkable now, but best from 2026.
-
Jeb Dunnuck
The 2022 Barbaresco Rabaja pours a deeper ruby hue and brings more intensity and saturation on the nose with notes of raspberry liqueur, balsamic herbs, pressed flowers, and sweet sage. It packs in equally matched intensity on the palate, with a firmly built structure, a more earthy finish, and savory notes of tea leaf lasting on the back palate. It’s a more contemplative wine for the range, displaying the richness and concentration of the vintage more directly and exhibiting considerable persistence through its long finish. Drink 2026-2040.
-
Vinous
The 2022 Barbaresco Rabajà offers up hints of kirsch, mint, white pepper and orange peel. Beams of supporting tannin make themselves felt in this decidedly nervy young Barbaresco. Savory notes emerge with a bit of air, suggesting ripeness that is on the razor's edge. This is a fine effort for the year.
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.