2021 Albino Rocca Dolcetto d'Alba

Super-pure aromas of red and blue fruit, chalky minerality and some pepper and anise spice flow from the glass. It’s flush with succulent fruit weight, the compact power cosseted by tightly wound tannins and bracing acidity. The finish lingers with traces of liquorice and spice. Another home run from Rocca in 2021. Add a bowl of ragù, and you'll have a feast.

Albino Rocca’s Barbera d’Alba is a small-volume cuvée from a parcel of vines planted in 2004 on the clay and limestone soils of San Rocco Seno d'Elvio—just outside the Alba township on the edge of the Barbaresco area. This Barbera was raised entirely in tank and bottled early to keep everything vibrant and fresh.

It’s easy to forget that Nebbiolo, produced from great sites and mature vines can be a wickedly seductive wine to drink young. The late Angelo Rocca was a master at reminding us of this fact. When Angelo Rocca tragically passed away in 2012 in a light plane accident, Barbaresco lost one of its most distinguished growers. It also lost a wonderful person and a deeply respected member of the Piemontese community. Rocca was operating at the peak of his powers and producing the most exciting, terroir-intense wines of his career. His three daughters (Daniela, Monica and Paola) along with Angelo’s cellarmaster (and son-in-law) Carlo have been determined to continue this legacy and in recent years, they have not missed a beat.

These are deeply classical wines in one sense (large cask, natural ferments, savoury tannins, etc.) and yet they are also wonderfully pure and precise. They nod to modernity in the best possible way. Of course, it helps that they have such wonderful holdings, use only Estate grown grapes and work very well in the vineyards with no herbicides, pesticides and only organic fertiliser—when it comes to Piemonte we have all been guilty of talking too much about winemaking and not enough about grape growing!

“The entire range trades on the same principal; honest, open and delightfully balanced wines, no matter what grape varieties are involved.” Nick Stock, Gourmet Traveller Wine

This producer has been through an incredible journey in recent years. The sudden passing of the family patriarch was obviously the catalyst. Angelo was already moving the Estate back to a more classical style (having come full circle), and after his passing his three daughters decided to produce a wine in his honour. Speaking with their grandfather, Albino Rocca (Angelo’s father and founder of the Estate), the idea came to them to make a wine that was vinified much in the way that Albino had done back in the day—using a wooden fermenter, with what we would call today ‘extended maceration’. The first release of the Angelo Barbaresco was such a success that it has now inspired evolution across all the wines (and two new wooden fermenters at the winery).

The Rocca’s efforts to continually improve the quality of all their Estate’s wines have resulted in some superb offerings over the last few vintages. All the wines are aged in large, neutral botti and remain contemporary in the sense that they are ripe, pure and meticulously made, but instead of any distracting new oak character, you have that wonderful dark cherry, floral and savoury structured personality of Nebbiolo in all its Piemontese glory. Not only are Albino Rocca wines outstanding examples of Barbaresco, but they are also very fairly priced.