2003 - Barolo Pira Rocca, Roagna

The 2003 Barolo La Rocca e La Pira, from vines between 20 and 50 years of age, is an expressive wine graced with dark cherries, plums, spices, cedar, menthol and minerals in a surprisingly accessible style for this producer. Medium in body, the wine offers superb length and finessed tannins that caress the palate through to the close. This is a little rounder, deeper and also plusher than the decidedly firm and austere Paje, and it is nearly as sublime. Here, too, Roagna passed on making a Riserva, blending the juice from their best lots into this entry-level Barolo. Anticipated maturity: 2010-2028. Roagna is one of the most fascinating properties in Piedmont. The family owns small, but choice, plots in some of the region's best vineyards. The estate makes a wide range of wines, but the Barbarescos and Barolos are the highlights. In top vintages there can be as many as three selections of Barbaresco (Barbaresco Paje, Barbaresco Riserva Paje and Barbaresco Crichet Paje) and two of Barolo (Barolo La Rocca e La Pira, Barolo Riserva La Rocca e La Pira). The wines are fermented in oak vats and remain on the skins until mid-December, after which they are aged in oak barrels for as many as a dozen years prior to being bottled. This year Roagna has three new wines; a Barbera made from vines in the La Rocca e La Pira vineyard in Castiglione Falletto, and small-production Barbarescos from the Asili and Montefico vineyards. Among the many highlights are the 2003 Barolo La Rocca e La Pira and Barbaresco Paje, which are both exceptional (there were no Riservas made that year), the 2004 Barbera d-Alba, the 2004 Barbaresco Asili, the 1995 Barolo Riserva La Rocca e La Pira and the 2000 Barbaresco Crichet Paje. As readers can deduce, the wines are usually released later than most and can be hard to find, but they are increasingly worth the effort. Quality has never been higher here, and as I have written before, Luca Roagna is one of Piedmont's most promising young producers.