2019 Soave Classico La Rocca
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Going a few vintages back in time, the organic Pieropan 2019 Soave Classico La Rocca (made with oak-aged Garganega) is carrying along beautifully, with a pretty gold color and balanced aromas of stone fruit, quince and ripe nectarine. The wine feels silky and smooth on the palate, with increasing textural heft as it goes forward. La Rocca is one of the best Soave Classicos on the market. It is an evergreen favorite that stays with the times. Some 45,000 bottles were released.
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Average Score
Walter Speller, jancisrobinson.com
Tamlyn Currin, jancisrobinson.com
More reviews and scores
The 2019 Soave Classico La Rocca is intense, rich and heady, showing crushed peaches with exotic florals and hints of lemon custard. It impresses further with enveloping textures, seeming to coat the entire palate in ripe yellow stone fruits complemented by confectioners' spice; however, the expression remains decidedly savory. This finishes salty and primary with hints of hazelnut skin. The 2019 La Rocca comes across as large-scaled, yet it maintains outstanding balance. In 2019, La Rocca production was reduced by 30% due to frost.
Full bottle 1,344 g. Certified Ecocert organic. 100% Garganega. Gentle whole-bunch pressing, a short maceration on skins. Fermentation in stainless-steel tanks and 500-litre oak casks. 60% of the wine ages in 500-litre oak casks and 40% in 2,000 litre 'botti' or large barrels for one year. The wine is aged for four months in bottle before release. Bottled 4 February 2021. Already golden in colour. Already extraordinary on the nose, despite being so, so young. Mango and yuzu, tendrils of honeysuckle cling to the nose; the scent of lemon blossom and silky yellow roses bruised in the mist-fine patter of early-morning rain. Already, the smells curl out the glass, slow wide ribbons that shimmer from flowers to earth to the limpid pearl glow of harvest moonrise. Such a golden wine. Like tasting a metallograph of golden crystals in microscopic detail by honey-hazed candle light. Candied citrus peel, saffron, bergamot. Ice-pick stilettoes of acidity deliver spine-piercing precision. And a stony chew, clad in almost-transparent jasmine skin, brushing fingertip slips of gentleness over a structure so defiant it clangs with the mountain-valley echo of a Tibetan gong. This has only just begun. The kind of wine you need to buy 12 bottles of and taste one a year. Exquisite, already. But oh, such a long way to go... (TC)
Very ripe Soave here with aromas of dried pineapple, honeycomb, pecan pie, light toffee and a wealth of fresh and dried flowers flitting around the edges. Medium-to full-bodied with a lovely, long palate of fruit syrup and caramel. Seamless, tasty and long. From organically grown grapes. Drink or hold.