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98+
JANUARY 2025
Vietti Barolo Rocche di Castiglione DOCG 2021
This is a serious beauty that reminds us of the brilliant work underway at this leading estate. Yes, ownership has changed over recent years, but this wine remains "Rocche-solid." From an epic vintage, the Vietti 2021 Barolo Rocche di Castiglione is a classic with those elegant mineral notes of glacial till and flake salt followed by carefully ripened fruit, blackcurrant and a finely tuned floral note of fragrant tea leaf that hits the high notes. The effect is ethereal but also precise. Fruit comes from two parcels, one planted in 1958 and the other in 1969, and the blend is half of each fermented together. Fruit was picked on October 1st, and the wine saw 24 days on the skins. The first year this wine was produced is 1961. The Rocche di Castiglione site has 35% sand with marl soils that continue to evolve, kicking out more new sand. Only 3,728 bottles exist, and that's the bad news.
97
JANUARY 2025
Vietti Barolo Lazzarito DOCG 2021
A graceful and enticing wine with complex, assertive cinnamon, melon, watermelon, earth, strawberries and peonies on the nose. This is a wine that breathes, with a full body, great fruit concentration, restrained blood orange flavors, lavish, elegant tannins and long, lifted acidity. Slightly stern in the finish, as expected from a young Barolo. Best after 2028.
94
JANUARY 2025
Vietti Barbera d’Alba Scarrone Vigna Vecchia DOC 2022
Benefitting from southern vineyard exposures, the Vietti 2022 Barbera d'Alba Scarrone Vigna Vecchia is a wine of big intensity and richness. Indeed, that richness is the wine's pedigree. Fruit comes from very old vines planted back in 1918. This expression boasts balanced results without too much extraction or too much acidity, but you are definitely in for an opulent wine.
94
JANUARY 2025
Vietti Barolo Ravera DOCG 2021
Protective and precise style here. Blood-orange and floral bouquet, restrained if not reductive, with cherry candy and chocolatey depth. Smooth attack to the palate with medium body, assertive acidity and refined tannins that turn dustier on the finish. Overall juicy and fresh, yet slightly stern. Try after 2027.
98
NOVEMBER 2024
Vietti Barolo Riserva Villero DOCG 2016
Complex aromas and flavors of cherry, raspberry, rose, wild herbs, stony mineral and autumn woods are the hallmarks of this elegant red, which is beginning to reveal all of its facets yet is still structured. Leaves a chalky feel of refined tannins on the long finish. Best from 2026 through 2045.
95
OCTOBER 2024
Vietti Barbaresco Riserva Rabajà DOCG 2019
Bright with strawberry, cherry, rose, wild rosemary and iron aromas and flavors, this red is expressive but also firmly structured, harmonious and elegant, lingering with a complex aftertaste of fruit, mineral and savory elements. Best from 2028 through 2047. 165 cases made, 25 cases imported.
94+
JANUARY 2025
Vietti Barbera d'Alba Vigna Scarrone DOC 2022
This was a good year for Barbera, a grape that has a shorter growing season compared to Nebbiolo and that generally likes the heat. The Vietti 2022 Barbera d'Alba Vigna Scarrone offers a deep, rich color, sweet tannins and bold fruit flavors from vines that were planted in 1989. Scarrone fruit always has a point of freshness because these vines are positioned on the east-facing slope, whereas the Vigna Vecchia occupy the south-facing part of the hill. The wine ages in oak for 16 months, with 10 months in barrique and six months in botti.
96
JANUARY 2025
Vietti Barolo Cerequio DOCG 2021
Choices, choices, choices... The Vietti 2021 Barolo Cerequio is another classic from this over-performing estate. This parcel was purchased in 2018 from the Chiarlo family (the Krause family acquired Vietti in 2016), and although the location is La Morra, the site behaves more like Sarmassa in Barolo, creating wines with a firm, tight entry and good structure. You could say that it has a nervous character now in its adolescence, and of course we expect it to smooth out and find harmony with time. Fruit was harvested on September 30th, and the wine sees 27 days of extended skin maceration. Compared to Brunate, which is always darker in character, the Cerequio is lighter and brighter with pretty primary fruit. Production is 4,890 bottles.
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