2021 La Ca Nova Barbaresco DOCG

Antonio Galloni has a crush on La Ca Nova and "can't recommend these wines highly enough." Given his expertise and long reporting history in Piemonte, it's probably time for all lovers of Nebbiolo to take heed.

Antonio Galloni says, "La Ca' Nova is, in my view, the single most under-the-radar winery in all of Piedmont. The wines just keep getting better and better, yet prices remain exceedingly modest, especially within the context of today’s market." 

La Ca Nova has quietly been making outstanding, terroir-driven Barbarescos for generations from two of the appellation's top crus, Montestefano, and Montefico. Perhaps the most remarkable aspect is that these polished and compelling wines are made without utilizing modern technology. There is no secret as to why these wines are quintessential expressions of Nebbiolo – it all starts in the vineyards with healthy grapes that are allowed to reach optimal ripeness.

Pietro Rocca, the family's smiling and modest patriarch, is a fourth-generation grape grower. In the early 1970s, he began making and bottling Barbarescos; before that, his family sold their grapes to the Barbaresco behemoth Angelo Gaja. Their single-vineyard bottlings come from two of the most coveted sites in Barbaresco. Montestefano produces some of the most structured Barbarescos, and the Roccas own prime parcels situated at 270 m above sea level with full southern exposures. Motefico, where the Roccas own the Bric Mentina vineyard, has a similar altitude, Southern and southeastern exposure, and marl soil. Local legend has it that Montefico was once owned by Domizio Cavazza, the founding father of Barbaresco.

Today Pietro is joined by his sons Marco, an enologist, and Ivan, an agronomist who tends to the vineyards. The family adopts a strictly hands-off approach in the winery, using only wild and native yeasts for fermentation. This takes place mostly in steel tanks and three wooden conical bats, but with no temperature control. Just before fermentation is complete, the family continues fermentation and maceration with the antique tradition known as steccatura, whereby wooden planks keep the cap submerged in the tank. This time-consuming method gently extracts more color and polyphenols. For La Ca Nova's single-vineyard bottlings, fermentation and maceration generally take twenty-five to thirty days. After fermentation, the Barbarescos are aged in 30 hectoliter casks, but rather than Slovenian oak, Pietro prefers Austrian oak: “They are untoasted and neutral, and are the best-quality barrels I have ever seen. In fourteen years, not one has ever leaked a drop.”

2021 is looking to be an outstanding vintage for this region. Vinous Media awarded it 95-97 point score, and said: "Two thousand twenty-one is shaping up to be a magnificent vintage for Barbaresco, based on the wines I have tasted so far. The best 2021s are marvelously complete wines that offer a captivating mix of energy, structure, depth and plenty of site character."

Aging: 18 months in 3000L oak casks

100% Nebbiolo. This Barbaresco has the typical garnet red Nebbiolo color and floral, fruity notes. In the mouth it has an invigorating freshness, is finely woven and tightly structured with well-balanced tannins and a hearty finish. The wine is ready to drink immediately and for the next 10+ years.

The 2021 Barbaresco is exquisite. Bright and delineated, with tons of energy, the 2021 bristles with saline-infused energy. Red berry fruit, blood orange, chalk, mint and white pepper lend tons of energy to this deceptively mid-weight, nervy young Barbaresco. Vineyard sites are Ovello, Cole and Loreto. ~ 94 Vinous Media

~94 The Wine Front

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