2014 Barolo Vecchie Viti
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Tasting notes
The 2014 Barolo Pira Vecchie Viti is lifted with red cherry, anise, dried flowers, and pine. This medium-. bodied Barolo from this challenging and rainy vintage is fresh with fine tannins, a silky mineral texture, and vibrant notes of blood orange, menthol, and red berries. It is an energetic and refreshing wine to drink over the next 10 or more years.
Critic scores
Jancis Robinson MW
Jeb Dunnuck
More reviews and scores
No new oak. Monopole and their largest vineyard. Sandstone – free draining. Very old vines. 2014 his style of vintage. Yields always low. 2,500 bottles produced. Pale orange-ruby. Essence of autumn. A cloud of wet, dead leaves on the nose! Gorgeous fruit with so much subtlety. Caresses the palate. You know this wine will live on and on but the tannins are so well integrated that you can't isolate them. Wonderfully long, subtle finish. I'm in love… (JR)
This is a fascinating wine made with vines planted in 1937, many on their original roots. The Pira vineyard in Castiglione Falletto is located just below Rocche di Castiglione and Scarrone and shows similar loose, yellowish soils that represent erosion from those overhead sites. Pira is a Roagna family monopoly since 1990. The beautiful 2014 Barolo Pira Vecchie Viti shows the classic balance and precision of Castiglione Falletto with bright fruit, cherry, licorice and toasted aniseed. The wine sees a very long maceration time, spanning two and a half months, and that extended skin contact builds the power and aromatic intensity of this Barolo. Production is 2,480 bottles.
The 2014 Barolo Pira Vecchie Viti is quite delicate and understated for this wine, which also means it will drink well with minimal cellaring. Macerated dark cherry, menthol, licorice, pine, spice, sweet tobacco and leather all develop in the glass. Next to the straight Pira, the Vecchie Vigne has an extra kick of mid-palate sweetness and richness that is quite attractive. For a young Roagna Barolo, the 2014 is very enticing and also accessible.
About the producer
Roagna is one of Italy’s finest estates, producing top, single-vineyard Nebbiolos in Barbaresco and Barolo. The estate’s Crichët Pajé Barbaresco is one of the rarest fine wine cuvées in Piedmont with fewer than 2,000 bottles produced each year.