Winemaker Notes
Intense garnet red color. The nose is rich and delicate. Floral scents such as rosehips and violets, ripe fruits like cherry and sour cherry. On the palate it is fresh and enveloping. The tannins are ripe, soft, silky and well-integrated, donating good structure and great elegance. Very well balanced and refined overall, with a long persistent finish.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Vietti worked in the Rabajà cru in the 1980s and has now returned to make this inaugural vintage of the latest wine to join the portfolio. And what a stunning wine it is. The 2019 Barbaresco Riserva Rabajà has plush, well-rounded fruit and a generous disposition with wild mountain blueberry, grenadine and watermelon candy. There are additional hints of resin, tar, linseed oil, fern or forest plant. The nose is one thing, but the palate is even more powerful, with very solid tannins, fresh acidity and generous fruit intensity. This Riserva fires on all cylinders.
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Wine Spectator
Bright with strawberry, cherry, rose, wild rosemary and iron aromas and flavors, this red is expressive but also firmly structured, harmonious and elegant, lingering with a complex aftertaste of fruit, mineral and savory elements.
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James Suckling
Transparent and clear aromas of cherries and berries with some cedar and lavender that follow through to a medium body, with fine and round tannins and a delicious finish. Very approachable now and refined. New wine from Vietti. Try after 2027.
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Wine Enthusiast
This Barbaresco leaps from the glass with aromas of farmers market black raspberry jam (seeds included), blue violets, sweet spices and subtle herbal hints. Polished and lush on the palate with tart cherries that pop as the vibrant acidity keeps the palate fresh and rounded tannins ease the wine to the savory finish.
Located in the heart of the Langhe hills, at the top of the village of Castiglione Falletto, the Vietti wine cellar was founded in the late 1800's by Carlo Vietti. The estate has gradually grown over the course of time, and today the vineyards include some of the most highly prized terroirs within the Barolo and Barbaresco winegrowing areaS.
Although they have been making wine for four generations, the turning point came in the 1960's when Luciana Vietti married winemaker and art connoisseur Alfredo Currado, whose intuitions - from the production of one of the first Barolo crus (Rocche di Castiglione - 1961), through the single-varietal vinification of Arneis (1967) to the invention of Artist Labels (1974) - made him both symbol and architect of some of the most significant revolutions of the time.
Alfredo’s intellectual, professional, and prospective legacy was taken up by Luca Currado Vietti (Luciana and Alfredo’s son) and his wife Elena, who contributed greatly to the success of the Vietti brand before their departure in 2023. In 2016 the historic winery was acquired by Krause family. Over the last seven year, they have added a number of prized crus to the estate’s holdings. In 2022 the winery was named Winery of the Year by Antonio Galloni of Vinous.
Vietti is universally recognized today as being one of the very finest Italian wine labels - by continuing along the path of the pursuit of quality, considered experimentation and working for expansion and consolidation internationally.
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.