Albino Rocca’s Riserva takes the award for the most enhanced wine in the cellar. Each year the Rocca family vinifies it from a small selection of the Ronchi Cru and the vineyard’s most powerful fruit from its oldest wines. Unlike the Cru above, the Riserva is made using a submerged cap, which holds the cake under the must’s surface during fermentation. The resulting wine is richer in tannin and colour, preparing it for two years in large oak casks and a further two years in the bottle before release.
In the distant past this label reflected its modernist upbringing, which included partial aging in barrique. My, how it has transformed. Today, the wine is fermented in upright oak tini before aging in large, Austrian and Slavonian oak ovals. So, while it remains the darkest and most powerful wine in the Rocca cellars, it’s a far more pure and balanced wine than in the past.