Description
Michaël says: “When it comes to the best of Piedmont, you’d be remiss not to include Roagna amongst the very top of producers. These are wines that I truly love: proper old school Piedmontese. Their testament towards quality shines through with their Langhe Rosso. For this wine, they use the ‘young vines’, which in this case are between 20 to 25 years old and from some of the most famous sites within Piedmont. Most other producers would use this fruit for their bottlings of Barolo or Barbaresco, which would sell for nearly double that of a ‘humble’ Langhe Rosso! Not chasing fads or fashion, the wines have a beautiful, classic element to them with firm tannins backed by a powerful acidity and Nebbiolo’s trademark cherry, tobacco and leathery characters.”
The Roagna family holds a long history within Piedmont, having made wine there for well over a century now. The modern story begins in the 1950s with the purchase of several key vineyard plots; now has 15 hectares of vines between both Barbaresco and Barolo. The key to understanding Roagna is their fastidious approach towards old vines and biodiverse massal selection (the practice of replanting new vineyards with cuttings from exceptional old vines from the same or nearby property). This approach is exemplified through their Langhe Rosso – a blend of Pajé in Barbaresco, and Pira in Castiglione Falletto.
These are vineyards of such quality that many producers create single-vineyard expressions from equivalent age vines for bottlings of Barolo or Barbaresco. However, the Roagnas declassify down to Langhe Rosso with their belief that their vines at greater than 25 years old are the truest expression of the vineyards and as such reserved for the vineyard-designated bottlings. It is fermented naturally in large wooden botti before going to neutral oak for extended ageing of almost five years before bottling. The slow approach results in a wine of harmonious tannin balance and integration, with complexity developed through its elongated maturation. The wine begins to unfurl with time in the glass and will further open up with a decant when first served.
