Roagna

1/22/14 -

(Roagna's vines in lower part of Paje in May; the vines at the top of the photo are not Roagna's.)

When you walk from neighboring vines into Roagna’s vineyard, you feel a little as if you’d left the desert for an oasis; on the day the photo above was taken there were birds, butterflies, and rabbits amongst the vines. Aside from the remarkable quality of Roagna’s wines, it’s hard not to feel that you’d really rather drink something made in an oasis rather than a desert. Unlike most grape growers, Roagna never went through a period of using chemicals in their vines – aside from copper and sulfur the vines have never been treated at all. They also don’t do much cleaning around the vines or between the rows, which give their vineyards a pretty wild look and makes them stand out in stark contrast to the conventionally farmed vines around them.

This is a very exciting little stash of Roagna’s Barbaresco. We love these wines, but older bottles are rare and hard to come by (G. Rinaldi being the only other of our Piemontese favorites that’s as difficult to find). Last Tuesday at home we had a half-bottle of Roagna 1996 Barbaresco Crichet Paje; since it was a school night it’s probably a good thing that it was just a half-bottle, because it was so phenomenally delicious that we would have easily consumed a full bottle. The 1996 will continue to improve for years to come; the 1982 and 1988s offered here are now in their prime.

A few more recent arrivals appear below. Please remember that to see current inventory you should click-through to view the article on the website. JW