Thanks to all the recent negative news of late, we are starting to see some cracks in the relentless high pricing that has plagued the wine industry for so long. A threatened oversupply at all levels has distributors, importers and wineries alike looking to clear their warehouses to make room for the latest and greatest vintage waiting to come down the pike, even if it means slashing prices to get it done. Even Barolo, one of the most stubborn categories with regards to pricing over the past few years, has not been immune and I’m stoked to see deals like this one fall into my hands. I am even more pleased to be able to get them into yours. The Viberti family’s 2019 Eraldo Viberti Barolo Rocchettevino, for example, when it first arrived in 2023, was selling for $125. I wasn’t anxious to buy it then, but, at half price, you can sign me up, personally, for half a case! 

Rochettevino is one of those beautifully manicured, coffee table book looking Barolo MGAs you drive past and always wonder who’s farming it. In this case, it’s the large sweep that extends on either side of your car as you drive towards Santa Maria after the roundabout just up the hill from the hamlet of Annunziata. You can tell the organically farmed parcels just by their vibrant cover crop alive with wild daikon, vetch and those lovely poppies that came roaring back in the Langhe when the farmers stopped pumping pesticides into their soils. It’s a nice exposure too; perfectly east facing, connected to the top of Rocche dell’Annunziata and Arborina and bordering, to its north and east, Capalot and Roggeri respectively. If you face a little north towards Santa Maria while standing on the belvedere in La Morra and then look straight down, you’re looking into the expanse of Rocchettevino. There are a lot of small holdings within the MGA- something like seventeen different farmers- and the Viberti family’s .8 hectare parcel sits on a little tongue of the vineyard bordering a small stand of trees and the Roggeri MGA, adjoining parcels owned by Vietti and Oddero. Organically farmed and bottled as a Cru-bottling since 2006, the Nebbiolo for this cuvee was macerated a long 40 days and aged for a further 30 months in small barrels. The wine has earned a very enthusiastic insider’s reputation, particularly in northern Europe, as an under-the-radar favorite for its elegance and lovely combination of style and power. The 2019 Rocchettevino was quite burly in its youth with lots of La Morra’s rich Kirsch-y, brandied cherry fruit and a head shop’s worth of exotic tobacco, roses and brambly herbal notes that have melded into the wine as time has passed. Those five years- nearly three of which were spent in barrel- have helped this strapping young Barolo grow into itself and now it’s an impressive, polished effort worthy of drinking this very evening (decanted) or for cellaring another decade or longer. And you really can’t beat the price of this rare find! Only 2500 bottles (not cases!) produced. I have 48 of them!  

Decanter: Oozing with sweet cherries and plum confit with arresting undertones of mediterranean herbs and tar; firm and structured with velvety tannins, a cleansing acidity and a long, savoury finish. 96 points