A family with a long history in the hills of Barbaresco, the Roagnas’ winemaking tradition was started in the early part of the twentieth century by Vincenzo Roagna. Over the years, the family worked hard to acquire precious holdings of historic vineyards in Barbaresco and Barolo, and they now own 20 hectares of land – of which 12 hectares are planted to vines, while the rest remain wild forest. Today, it’s Vincenzo’s great-grandson Luca Roagna who is in charge of the estate.

The family owns parcels in four exceptional vineyards in Barbaresco – Asili, Carso, Montefico, and Pajè – as well as the monopole Barolo vineyard Pira in the fabled village of Castiglione Falletto. Out of all of these, the Roagna name is most closely connected with the Pajè vineyard, which they’ve owned since 1953 and is the largest of their Barbaresco holdings. Located close to the Roagna family house, Pajè could perhaps be considered the “home vineyard”, the heart and soul of the family estate.

Roagna began vinifiying their single vineyards separately in 2004 – in particular, Asili, Montefico, Pajè, and Pira. The average vine age is very high: all of Roagna’s cru wines are from vines aged 25 to 50 years, and the VV (“Vecchie Viti”, or old-vine) wines are from vines older than 50 years of age. In addition to their superb Barbaresco and Barolo bottlings, the estate also produces a Langhe Rosso cuvée from “younger” Nebbiolo vines, which to Luca mean that they’re younger than 25 years of age (which is not at all young by other producers’ standards).

Despite their already impressive holdings, Luca continues to look for opportunities to work with more of Barolo’s and Barbaresco’s finest crus. In the 2014 vintage, he expanded Roagna’s portfolio with the debut of two new wines from leased parcels in Neive: one from the famed Barbaresco cru Gallina and the other from the celebrated Barbaresco cru Albesani (from which Bruno Giacosa's coveted “Santo Stefano di Neive” also hails).

All of Roagna’s vines are worked organically, though they haven’t sought any form of certification; their approach is deeply personal and draws inspiration from a variety of sources, including Rudolph Steiner and Masanobu Fukuoka. The vines are replanted as needed, vine-by-vine, using selection massale rather than clonal selection. The family is staunchly committed to biodiversity: grass grows between the vines, the soils are never worked and the vines are never trimmed. They grow tall and wild, and in the spring and summer, they can look like a jungle.

	Luca Roagna continues to ratchet up the quality of his wines in a meaningful way. Probably the biggest change here in recent years has been the shortening of time in barrel for most of the wines from about five years in cask to around three and half. Upon release, the wines have more freshness, energy and nuance than they once had. — Antonio Galloni

Extending their nature-driven philosophy to the cellar, the vinification approaches at Roagna are still traditional, though Luca has made improvements and changes to the process over time. Fermentation takes place with native yeast, by way of a pre-fermentation pied de cuve. Macerations are long – on average 60 to 100 days – with the grape skins fully submerged in the wine. This is followed by long ageing in large neutral French oak botti.

The oak that Luca uses is hand-bent using hot steam instead of toasting, which ensures that it doesn’t impart any wood flavours during the maturation process, thereby maintaining maximum pure terroir expression. The ageing regime depends a bit on the cru, but the overriding philosophy is that each single vineyard should express its own identity. All of the estate’s wines are bottled unfined and unfiltered, and with minimal sulphur use.

The style of Roagna’s wines has been carefully passed down through the generations, with the wines made in a very traditional and classic style. Roagna’s admirers adore the poise, finesse and delicate perfume of its wines. These are deep, pure and soil-driven wines, made with a minimal-intervention ethos, yet they’re positively aglow with glossy, high-toned fruits and oft-intoxicating aromatics. The resplendent fruit is accompanied by firm, well-integrated tannins that ensure a long and graceful evolution. These wines have a superb track record for longevity, with the potential to easily evolve in the cellar for thirty or more years.

The higher cuvées will benefit from some time in the cellar before drinking, while the Langhe Rosso should be fairly approachable upfront. As with the wines from many traditional Barolo or Barbaresco producers, these wines will blossom if decanted for a significant period of time prior to drinking, even when the wines have spent a number of years in the cellar.

These iconic wines are offered ex-cellar Singapore. This offer is valid until 5 March 2021. All order requests will be processed subject to remaining availability and final written confirmation. No further discount. Full settlement is required to confirm orders. Please note the special terms and conditions that apply.