Winemaker Notes
This wine is a selection from a small part of Rabajà and is only made in the best, classic years. I that considerable structure, elegance and a great capacity for evolution.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Lots of ripe fruit on the nose and palate with dried rose petals and cigar box adding complexity. Full-bodied and rich with depth of fruit and layers of ripe tannins. Smoky finish. Decadent and glorious now.
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Wine Spectator
A sleek, elegant style, with plenty of intensity to its floral, strawberry, currant, mineral and eucalyptus flavors. Still a little reticent on the finish, yet balanced and pure. The fruit becomes more prominent with air, so decant gently now or age a few more years. Best from 2022 through 2038.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2017 Barbaresco Rabaja' is smoky, with notes of licorice, red plum, and stony earth. Generous fresh cherry fruit fills the palate up front, with dried bitter herbs and saline minerality. It has an elegant structure and a streamlined mouthfeel, with fine tannins and freshness on the finish. Drink 2022-2036.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Giuseppe Cortese 2013 Barbaresco Riserva Rabajà has a rich and sweet bouquet with plum and dark cherry. The bouquet reveals ripe black fruit notes that stand in contrast to background notes of sour cherry or cranberry. It's hard to pin down if the wine can be described as overripe or underripe, because it shows signs of both but ultimately remains somewhere in the middle of those two extremes. Give the wine more cellar time to come together. Fruit comes from a one-hectare parcel in this celebrated cru at 270 meters above sea level with calcareous clay soils. The wine sees extended aging with 40 months in large Slavonian oak casks and an additional three years in bottle.
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Wine Enthusiast
Aromas of underbrush, dried mint, hazelnut and prune lead the nose. The full bodied, classically crafted palate features juicy Marasca cherry, baking spice and tobacco framed in taut, polished tannins while fresh acidity keeps it well balanced. Drink through 2028.
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Wine & Spirits
This wine’s deep cherry and plum flavors derive from the Cortese family’s oldest Rabajà vines, planted in 1953. It is muscular and fresh in this moderate vintage, just beginning to show some savory notes to complement the lingering warm spice.
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.