Overlook Rocca’s whites at your peril! As far as we know, this unique wine is the only Cortese grown within the boundaries of Barbaresco, so perhaps the fact that the Roccas grow it should be clue enough that we’re onto something special. The one-hectare plot of 40-year-old vines is rooted in Montegrosso d’Asti (in Barbaresco, just south of Asti) on clay and limestone soils. The wine was aged in a mix of stainless steel and mature French oak (just six months in barrel).

Angelo Rocca was a great fan of Burgundy and went as far as planting Chardonnay vines in the family’s home village of San Rocco Seno d’Elvio. Yet it’s the estate’s Cortese that stands out for us. Rocca always believed in crafting a structured, food-friendly Cortese from low yields, and his family have taken the wine to another level, weaving in complex mineral-savoury hints, great texture and layers of citrus-pith and spice-flecked fruit. From an outstanding Piemonte vintage, you can expect layers of fresh orchard, ripe white peach and orange oil notes, underpinned by chalky freshness and some phenolic chewiness on the finish.

Albino Rocca’s Dolcetto d’Alba is drawn from a single vineyard in Barbaresco, a first-rate location with an east-to-southeast exposure for the most part. The vines were planted in 1960 and 1978. Thanks to their maturity and sensible yields, this wine displays more intensity and texture than many a garden-variety Dolcetto d’Alba. The 2022 was raised in stainless steel for six months.

What a cracking Dolcetto. It's a riot of zest and energy, opening with a lovely interplay of summer berries, violets and spice before intensifying on the palate with a plush texture, deftly partnered with perfumed, juicy tannins and mouth-watering freshness.

The lion’s share of this small-volume cuvée is drawn from a single parcel of vines planted in 2004 in the clay and limestone soils of San Rocco Seno d'Elvio—just outside the Alba township, on the edge of the Barbaresco area. More recently, a parcel of 20-year-old Barbara from Castagnito on the opposite side of the Tanaro River has joined the party. The resulting wine, raised entirely in tank, is bursting with mouth-watering red and blue fruit flavours framed by tightly wound tannins and lip-smacking acidity.

The name of this wine comes from the previous owner, Gepin, who tended these parcels of Barbera in the great Crus of Ronchi (Barbaresco) and Cottà (Neive). These old vines were planted between 1950 and 1974, and the wine is raised in large Austrian casks and bottled unfiltered.

This is a very smart wine: ripe, pure and pulpy, with intensity and length seldom found in regular Barbera d’Alba DOC (where the best sites are often reserved for Nebbiolo). It’s textural and rich in fruit, with a finish that’s as fresh as a daisy. A perfectly balanced, medium-bodied red and a benchmark example of Barbera.

In addition to its classic source—a parcel of old vines in Meruzzano—Rocca’s Barbaresco now takes in a selection of young-vine fruit from two Barbaresco Cru parcels: Ronchi and Cottà. These sources, along with the winemaking—three weeks on skins and maturation exclusively in large Stockinger botti for 24 months—mean we can expect a pretty serious wine at this level.

It’s a terrific introduction to the year. From the off, you can sense the presence of the fleshy power and precision that characterised Rocca’s 2019 Barbarescos. The nose already shows great aromatic charm with red fruit purity, flecked by floral prettiness and lifted spice. The palate is vibrant and fleshy, more ‘filled out’ than 2019, and crammed with graceful flow cosseted by fine, mouthcoating tannins and wonderful freshness. It finishes on a Campari note with great length. It all adds up to an excellent vintage for this cuvée.

The Montersino Cru is located at the southern tip of Barbaresco, close to Treiso, at 320 metres above sea level. The Rocca’s 0.42-hectare parcel is within the highest and coolest area of Barbaresco and is one of the region’s most elevated plots. The south-facing vines were planted in 1998 by Angelo Rocca and are rooted on very poor clay and limestone slopes with thin layers of sandstone. The sandstone brings finesse, as does the altitude. Daniela Rocca has pointed out that this soil type (locally called Formazione di Lequio) resembles Barolo’s Monforte and some of the chalky soils found in Serralunga.

Each year, these soils produce a beautiful wine that’s perfect for Burgundy (and Barbaresco!) lovers. Packed with perfume and vibrancy, there’s immediately more savoury complexity on offer. The palate is beautifully poised with velveteen fruit, skilfully interlaced with attractive mineral and floral flavour and the structure is brought by chalky tannins and elevated acidity. The first release from this Cru was back in 2012, and it’s hard to recall if Rocca has bottled a more exciting young wine than that from 2020.

This celebrated, limestone-rich Barbaresco Cru runs along the southern belt of the appellation, near the town itself. The Rocca cellars are located just above this southeast-facing vineyard—one of the reasons the site has become synonymous with the name Albino Rocca. Ronchi is also the oldest and largest holding of the estate, extending to almost six hectares (three of Nebbiolo)—roughly a third of the total area of the Cru. With Rocca’s Nebbiolo vines here now aged between 50 and 70 years, this vineyard offers an ideal combination of vine age, deep clay and limestone soils and southeast exposure. It’s no surprise that it consistently produces some of Barbaresco’s greatest wines, wildly aromatic and rich in complexity and structure.

This celebrated, limestone-rich Barbaresco Cru runs along the southern belt of the appellation, near the town itself. The Rocca cellars are located just above this southeast-facing vineyard—one of the reasons the site has become synonymous with the name Albino Rocca. Ronchi is also the oldest and largest holding of the estate, extending to almost six hectares (three of Nebbiolo)—roughly a third of the total area of the Cru. With Rocca’s Nebbiolo vines here now aged between 50 and 70 years, this vineyard offers an ideal combination of vine age, deep clay and limestone soils and southeast exposure. It’s no surprise that it consistently produces some of Barbaresco’s greatest wines, wildly aromatic and rich in complexity and structure.

This celebrated, limestone-rich Barbaresco Cru runs along the southern belt of the appellation, near the town itself. The Rocca cellars are located just above this southeast-facing vineyard—one of the reasons the site has become synonymous with the name Albino Rocca. Ronchi is also the oldest and largest holding of the estate, extending to almost six hectares (three of Nebbiolo)—roughly a third of the total area of the Cru. With Rocca’s Nebbiolo vines here now aged between 50 and 70 years, this vineyard offers an ideal combination of vine age, deep clay and limestone soils and southeast exposure. It’s no surprise that it consistently produces some of Barbaresco’s greatest wines, wildly aromatic and rich in complexity and structure.

This is the fourth release of Rocca’s Barbaresco Cottà, one of the great Crus of Neive. Cottà was one of the first sites in Barbaresco to be produced as a single vineyard. The Roccas work with a micro-parcel of 50-year-old vines in the middle of the southwest-facing slope, adjacent to their Gepin (Barbera) parcel and directly facing the Ronchi vineyard. It is a tiny holding, producing no more than 2,000 bottles annually. The sand-rich clay/marl soils and warmer microclimate produce generous yet fine wines that marry beautifully with Rocca’s elegant interpretation of Nebbiolo.

Young as it is, there’s already a cracking fusion of sweet cherry, hoisin and tea leaf flavours backed by textural prowess and impressive tension. The profile is prettier than Ronchi, with market-fresh red berries interwoven with integrated, fine-boned tannins and puckering acidity. Perhaps the laciest and most approachable of the Crus this year, it is an absolute standout.

Barbaresco’s Ovello Cru spans a ridge with both slopes of the crest planted to vines. Within this large Cru are several delimited parcels (historical plots, if you like). Rocca’s Vigna Loreto is one of them, a tiny plot that is effectively a monopole. Vines here are around 45 years old, and the fruit was first vinified as a separate bottling in 1990. Sitting on the sunnier, southwestern side of the ridge, these vines directly face the moderating influence of the Tanaro River, so the nights are much cooler than on the other side of the Cru. The clay and limestone soils are also sandier and lighter than in the rest of Ovello, giving the wines here far more finesse. On the other hand, vines from Loreto must be cropped at 10 hl/ha less than other Ovello vines if the wine is bottled under the parcel name, so this wine balances its finesse with real density. As in most years, you get Ronchi’s architecture and Cottà’s prettiness here.

This producer has been through an incredible journey in recent years. The catalyst was the sudden passing in 2021 of family patriarch Angelo Rocca. Angelo was already moving the estate back to a more classic style (having come full circle), and after his death, his three daughters decided to produce a wine in his honour. Speaking with their grandfather, Albino Rocca (Angelo’s father and founder of the estate), the Rocca sisters formulated the idea of making a wine the way it had been done back in Albino’s day. The first release of the Angelo Barbaresco was such a success that it has inspired evolution across all the wines, and two wooden fermenters are now at the winery.

Angelo is a small blend of fruit from selected parcels across the estate. It was given a lunga macerazione (50 days on skins using a submerged cap) in a specially designed large-format wooden Stockinger fermenter. The wine was then aged for 24 months in a 2,000-litre cask. The blend is typically 50% Ronchi, 25% Ovello and 25% Montersino. Galloni has described it as a “Brunate of Barbaresco”, which gives you some insight into the quality on offer here.

As you would expect, the 2020 Angelo is the most complex and brooding of Rocca’s 2020 Barbarescos. Given time, the wine’s ethereal structure and lush, red-fruited succulence will mesh nicely with the layers of dried flowers, deep spice and earthy depth. In the meantime, there is something charmingly ‘old school’ that the extended maceration has brought—something indescribably complex, too. Yet, the wine remains magically fresh, pure and refined, with the supporting structure hovering in the background.