2014 Barolo, Pira, Roagna, Piedmont, Italy

2014 Barolo, Pira, Roagna, Piedmont, Italy

Product: 20148003357
 
2014 Barolo, Pira, Roagna, Piedmont, Italy

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Available by the case In Bond. Pricing excludes duty and VAT, which must be paid separately before delivery. Storage charges apply.
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Description

This steep single vineyard sits directly below Castiglione. This old site has almost perfect proportions of limestone, sand and marl. It creates wines with perfume, elegance and mineral finesse. The 2014 is expressive and elegant, a true reflection of this unique terroir and Luca Roagna’s avant-garde approach.

The vintage conditions called for strict selection to achieve tension and intensity. The palate is pretty yet firm, with bright fruit. There’s cool raspberry, cherry stone, rose, leather, wild savoury spices and minerality gained from old vines. This is focussed and fine, with more to give.

Drink 2022 - 2034

Davy Zyw, Senior Buyer, Berry Bros. & Rudd (October 2020)

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Critics reviews

Antonio Galloni, Vinous91/100

The 2014 Barolo Pira is a very pretty wine, but it is also quite open, both in its aromatics, and structural feel, where the wine feels unusually ample. Dark spice, tobacco, worn-in leather and mint are nicely laced together.

This is a superb effort for the year, but I would not plan on cellaring it for too long, as it is quite open for a young Barolo, by Roagna standards. Relative to the other wines in this lineup, the Pira comes across as a touch flat and lacking in body. Much of that is attributable to the vintage.

Drink 2022 - 2034

Antonia Galloni, Vinous.com (November 2019)

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Wine Advocate95/100

The Pira cru is a Roagna family monopoly. They purchased this site (in Castiglione Falletto) in 1990, and the vines range from 40 to 50 years old. The 2014 Barolo Pira opens to dark and impeccably focused fruit. This wine offers an incredible level of sharpness and detail that adds a vivid, Technicolor character to the bouquet.

The aromas are lifted, bright and vertical, fueled by the power and elegance that comes so naturally to Nebbiolo. There is zest and energy here, with plenty of acidity and tannic structure to liven up the finish. Exactly 12,984 bottles were produced, making this the easiest Roagna wine to locate at your local retailer.

Drink 2024 - 2045

Monica Larner, Wine Advocate (July 2020)

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Wine Spectator93/100

Plum, mint and menthol aromas are the main themes, along with tar, licorice, leather and wild herb notes. Though the fruit is buried, there is sweetness midpalate, finishing on the dry side. A bit austere, but long, finding good equilibrium. 1,100 cases made.

Drink 2023 - 2039

Bruce Sanderson, Wine Spectator (April 2020)

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About this WINE

Roagna, Piedmont

Roagna, Piedmont

Luca Roagna represents the latest generation to work in this historical wine estate, alongside his genial father Alfredo, whose 15 hectares of vine cover both Barbaresco and Barolo wine production. However the family's roots lie in Barbaresco, with Luca's grandfather buying the Paje vineyard in the 1950s.

The key to understanding Roagna's wine is their insistence upon biodiverse masale selected and old vineyards (up to 100 year-old in the case of Castiglione Falletto), whose plants are only green harvested up to 15 yo (older vines set their own yields naturally). Harvests tend to be more protracted than their neighbours, while cuvaisons in large conical French Garbellotto botte also outstrip the norm, lasting anything from one to two months, achieving the finest tannins and maximum extraction. The use of sulphur dioxide is minimal if applied at regular intervals.

The range is dominated by three Barbaresco crus: Paje, Crichet Paje and Paje Riserva; the difference being the exposition and vine age. Not afraid to innovate, since 1982 they have also offered an ingenious non-vintage, vino di tavola blend of (Barbaresco) Nebbiolo called 'Opera Prima' and since '88 a minerally white Chardonnay/Nebbiolo blend named 'Solea'.

From Barolo's Castiglione Falletto village comes their monopole and ancient vine 'La Rocca e Le Pira' cru, while more recently (from '93) comes Serralunga d'Alba's prime Vigna Rionda. Production is small; the 10,000 cases potential reduced to an average 6,000 case reality. In a word: finezza.

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Barolo

Barolo

Located due south of Alba and the River Tanaro, Barolo is Piedmont's most famous wine DOCG (Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita), renowned for producing Italy's  finest red wines from 100 percent Nebbiolo

Its red wines were originally sweet, but in 1840 the then extant Italian monarchy, the House of Savoy, ordered them to be altered to a dry style. This project was realised by French oenologist Louis Oudart, whose experience with Pinot Noir had convinced him of Nebbiolo's potential. The Barolo appellation was formalised in 1966 at around 1,700 hectares – only a tenth of the size of Burgundy, but almost three times as big as neighbouring Barbaresco.

Upgraded to DOCG status in 1980, Barolo comprises two distinct soil types: the first is a Tortonian sandy marl that produces a more feminine style of wine and can be found in the villages of Barolo, La Morra, Cherasco, Verduno, Novello, Roddi and parts of Castiglione Falletto. The second is the older Helvetian sandstone clay that bestows the wines with a more muscular style. This can be found in Monforte d'Alba, Serralunga d'Alba, Diano d'Alba, Grinzane Cavour and the other parts of Castiglione Falletto. Made today from the Nebbiolo clones Lampia, Michet and Rosé, Barolo has an exceptional terroir with almost every village perched on its own hill. The climate is continental, with an extended summer and autumn enabling the fickle Nebbiolo to achieve perfect ripeness.

Inspired by the success of modernists such as Elio Altare, there has been pressure in recent years to reduce the ageing requirements for Barolo; this has mostly been driven by new producers to the region, often with no Piedmontese viticultural heritage and armed with their roto-fermenters and barriques, intent on making a fruitier, more modern style of wine.

This modern style arguably appeals more to the important American market and its scribes, but the traditionalists continue to argue in favour of making Barolo in the classic way. They make the wine in a mix of epoxy-lined cement or stainless-steel cuves, followed by extended ageing in 25-hectoliter Slavonian botte (barrels) to gently soften and integrate the tannins. However, even amongst the traditionalists there has been a move, since the mid-1990s, towards using physiologically (rather than polyphenolically) riper fruit, aided by global warming. Both modernist and traditional schools can produce exceptional or disappointing wines.

Recommended traditionalist producers:
Giacomo Borgogno, Giacomo Conterno, Bruno Giacosa, Elio Grasso, Marcarini, Bartolo Mascarello and Giuseppe Mascarello.

Recommended nmdernist producers:
Azelia, Aldo Conterno, Luciano Sandrone, Paolo Scavino and Roberto Voerzio

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Nebbiolo

Nebbiolo

Nebbiolo is the grape behind the Barolo and Barbaresco wines and is hardly ever seen outside the confines of Piedmont. It takes its name from "nebbia" which is Italian for fog, a frequent phenomenon in the region.

A notoriously pernickety grape, it requires sheltered south-facing sites and performs best on the well-drained calcareous marls to the north and south of Alba in the DOCG zones of Barbaresco and Barolo.

Langhe Nebbiolo is effectively the ‘second wine’ of Piedmont’s great Barolo & Barbarescos. This DOC is the only way Langhe producers can declassify their Barolo or Barbaresco fruit or wines to make an early-drinking style. Unlike Nebbiolo d’Alba, Langhe Nebbiolo can be cut with 15% other red indigenous varieties, such as Barbera or Dolcetto.

Nebbiolo flowers early and ripens late, so a long hang time, producing high levels of sugar, acidity and tannins; the challenge being to harvest the fruit with these three elements ripe and in balance. The best Barolos and Barbarescos are perfumed with aromas of tar, rose, mint, chocolate, liquorice and truffles. They age brilliantly and the very best need ten years to show at their best.

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