Albino Rocca Barbaresco

Remarkable value and quality Barbaresco. Stocks limited.   

The charming Angelo Rocca from Albino Rocca has been in Melbourne and Sydney with his daughter Daniela, showing their wonderful wines around the trade. Those of you who had the chance to taste the wines will need no convincing. There is some wonderful value to be found here and a clutch of superb pouring options. It’s easy to forget that Nebbiolo, produced from great sites and mature vines, from certain vintages and in the right hands, can be a wickedly seductive wine to drink young. Angelo Rocca is a master at reminding us of this fact and he has done it again with his current releases. These are plump, textural, seductive Barbaresco’s that are surprisingly forward yet clearly have the stuffing to age. All are from estate vineyards and all are grown 100% within the boundaries of the Barbaresco region. We recommend them without hesitation; for drinking now or for cellaring.

Please don’t ignore the three ‘entry level wines’: they are stunning values as the notes make clear. Along with the Dolcetto and Barbera we have a new vintage, 2009, of the fabulous “Rosso di Rocca” (and a little more 2007 for those who know and love this wine). Surely Rosso di Rocca is one of the best value Nebbiolo based wines going around?
Angelo Rocca had a revelation several years ago and decided to move away from barriques and back to large format, neutral oak (the ultimate vessel for Nebbiolo maturation). His wines are far better for it. Today, none of the wines, bar a tiny percentage of the Brich Ronchi, spend any time in barrique and very few of these barrels are new. The wines are still “modern” in the sense that they are ripe, pure and meticulously made, but instead of any distracting new oak character you have solely the wonderful dark cherry, floral and savoury structured personality of Nebbiolo in all its glory. The wines of Albino Rocca are superb across the range and the recent price drops, thanks to the exchange rate, make them particularly attractive to those searching... learn more