2018 Barbaresco Pajè Vecchie Viti

This is a stellar set of wines from Luca Roagna. The 2018 Barbarescos and Barolos are especially fine. Roagna waited it out, choosing to harvest as late as possible in order to ripen the tannins. As a result, a number of the wines have distinctly exotic profiles. I tasted the entire range twice and found the wines consistently brilliant. These are wines that benefit considerably from cellaring, something I have learned over the two decades-plus I have been buying and drinking them. As has been the case for some time, Roagna has reduced the time in wood for the Barolos and Barbarescos, preferring more neutral vessels for the final portion of aging. As always, low-intervention viticulture and super-traditional methods, with ambient fermentations and long time on the skins, are cornerstones of the approach here.