Piedmont. Bruno Rocca Fralu Langhe Nebbiolo 2018
Bruno Rocca belongs to the very top of Barbaresco producers. This small winery is still owned by the family. Although it produces eleven different labels it is most famous for the Barbaresco line-up from single-vineyard parcels (Curra & Rabaja). Modern history of the winery begins in 1958 when the family moved from Barbaresco closer to Rabaja vineyard, buying land within it. Up until 1978 the fruit was sold to the consortium but then Bruno Rocca took over and started bottling his wines under his own label. From 1990 the reputation of the winery has been growing. As the company continued to develop Bruno started to buy new parcels in Barbaresco. Currently the winery holds around 15 hectares of vineyard, including 3,5 hectare in Rabaja.
The style of the winemaking should be labelled as modernist. Barbaresco fruit is being fermented in wooden vats, whereas stainless steel is reserved for other varieties (Dolcetto, Barbera). All the fruit coming from single-vineyard crus are being fermented separately. Fermentation is being conducted with natural yeasts. Wines are then rested in barriques or bigger tonneaux using French oak.
We have visited Piedmont in the end of October 2020, when the second wave of COVID pandemic started to spike in Europe. Due to that not too many vineyards accepted visits at that time. Nevertheless, it proven to be one of the best wine trips we made so far, as we depended on recommendations from people we’ve met on our way, from our hosts to local wine sellers. Piedmont seems very small, everyone knows someone involved with wine and with less people travelling we had a chance to have longer and more meaningful visits at the vineyards.
We were pleasantly surprised to be accepted for a visit without any scheduling in advance by lovely Giulia at Bruno Roca. We had a thrill to taste five different labels: Barbera d’Alba 2018, Barbaresco Curra 2016, Curra Barbaresco Riserva 2014, Maria Adelaide Barbaresco 2013. Below you will find our impressions of Fralu Langhe Nebbiolo 2018, which was one of the bottles we also tasted and opened recently at home. It’s an excellent Nebbiolo from a high quality producer, exactly what you should be looking for in decently priced quality wines. Light ruby red, high tannins, spiciness. Red fruits, hints of licorice, leather, tar and rose petales notes on the pallet. Also a bit of vanilla. The wine is very amble, exuberant and surprisingly long for a Langhe Nebbiolo. You might want to wait a bit longer for tannins to smoothen even more, but we really enjoyed drinking it now.
Cost: around 20 euro
Food that goes well with this wine: beef, lamb, game (deer, venison), poultry
