2007 Barbaresco Crichët Pajè

The room is buzzing with energy as our Crichët Pajé is about to kick off. It’s one of the things I love most about our events: the enthusiasm, passion and deep knowledge guests bring to these lunches and dinners. The 60th floor at Manhatta is especially evocative on this morning. A thick blanket of fog weaves throughout the New York City skyline as if we had arranged for the most perfect Barbaresco meets New York views imaginable. We aren’t that good.

Luca Roagna continues to step up his game. This is a superb set of new releases. The 2011 Barbarescos are gorgeous. They will also drink well with minimal cellaring, which, as Vinous readers know, is quite unusual for these wines. At the same time, the 2011s retain a very classic sense of mid-weight structure and good overall freshness, which gives them exceptional balance. One of the more recent developments at Roagna has been a move towards shortening the amount of time the wines spend in cask (something I am seeing at quite a few traditionally minded estates) with the goal of retaining a bit more freshness in the wines and allowing the aging to take place in bottle rather than in oak. In my view, that is a huge positive. One of the unfortunate results of the investments Roagna has made in recent years has been an increase in pricing. For that reason, I am often attracted to the Barbaresco Pajé and its sibling, the Barolo Pira. Still, it's hard not to be impressed with the overall level of quality here.