Overlook Rocca’s whites at your own peril! This unique wine is the only Cortese grown within the boundaries of Barbaresco. The fact that the Roccas grow it should be clue enough that we’re onto something special. The one-hectare plot of 1980s vines are rooted in Montegrosso d’Asti (in Barbaresco, just south of Asti) on clay and limestone soils.
Angelo Rocca was a great fan of Burgundy. He went as far as planting Chardonnay vines in the family’s home village of San Rocco Seno d’Elvio. Yet it is the estate’s Cortese that stands out for us. Rocca always believed in crafting a structured, food-friendly Cortese from low yields. His family has taken the wine to another level, weaving in complex mineral-savoury hints, limpid texture and a nip of reductive freshness.
Fermented in a stainless steel and mature French oak, and aged on lees in barrel, you can expect layers of satiny orchard fruit, fragrant tangerine peel and yellow flower, all neatly underpinned by zing of lemon rind, fine acidity and some phenolic chewiness on the finish. A Cortese of uncommon personality!