G.D. Vajra Barolo Albe 2015
-
Wine
Spectator -
Robert
Parker -
Wine
Enthusiast -
Wine &
Spirits
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
#48 Wine Spectator Top 100 of 2019
Albe has an amazing scent of macerated Nebbiolo pomace, cranberries and raspberries. Infused rose petals, sweet red fruits and a hint of black figs, complete its wide and elegant bouquet. So authentic and yet expressive, it beautifully celebrates the maturity of these vineyards and wine. Albe is a pure tribute to Barolo di Barolo and to the amazing craft of combining vineyards.
Professional Ratings
-
Wine Spectator
Pretty, featuring rose, cherry, raspberry and mint flavors, with a touch of mineral. Supple, harmonious and elegant, offering a long finish. The aftertaste is tinged with orange peel and tobacco notes. Best from 2021 through 2036.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
This Barolo offers a more immediate approach, with lots of dark berry followed by spice, tilled earth and black truffle. The 2015 Barolo Albe pours to a medium dark color and lays out a mid-weight texture, with bright primary fruit that is expertly woven into the wine. It exposes clearly etched veins of acidity and some determinedly firm tannins. Despite the Albe's accessible personality, I recommend that you wait a few more years before popping the cork.
-
Wine Enthusiast
Aromas of mature dark-skinned berries and brown baking spices fill the glass along with a whiff of new leather. Medium bodied and taut, the chewy palate offers dried black cherry, cranberry, blood orange and star anise alongside tightly knit, dusty tannins.
-
Wine & Spirits
Giuseppe Vaira sources the fruit for this wine from his highelevation plots in the Barolo commune and ages it in large Slavonia casks. Full-bodied and supple, with dark fruit tones and notes of licorice and tobacco, it is driven by a bright core of acidity that keeps it feeling energetic through the finish. A fantastic Barolo value. Best Buy
Other Vintages
2019-
Robert
Parker -
Wine
Enthusiast -
James
Suckling -
Jeb
Dunnuck
-
Wine
Enthusiast -
Robert
Parker -
Wine
Spectator -
James
Suckling - Decanter
-
Robert
Parker -
Wine
Enthusiast -
Jeb
Dunnuck -
James
Suckling -
Wine
Spectator -
Wine &
Spirits
-
Wine
Spectator -
Robert
Parker -
Wine
Enthusiast -
Wine &
Spirits -
James
Suckling
-
Robert
Parker -
Wine &
Spirits
-
Wine
Spectator
-
Wine
Spectator -
Wine
Enthusiast
-
Wine
Enthusiast -
Wine
Spectator
-
Wine
Enthusiast -
Wine
Spectator - Decanter
-
Wine
Spectator
-
Wine
Spectator -
Robert
Parker
The Vajra family has farmed Bricco delle Viole, the highest cru in Comune di Barolo, since the 1880s. At the young age of fifteen, Aldo Vajra embraced the dream to revive his family legacy. Displaying a vision and commitment belying his young age he took over the estate in 1968, turning a new page.
Aldo soon acquired the first organic certification of the region (1971), created private biotype selections (selezioni massali) of Nebbiolo and Dolcetto, pioneered the renaissance of Freisa, a noble yet forgotten local grape (1980) and the cultivation of Rhine Riesling in Piemonte (1985).
Today, the Vajra family continues the vineyard research focusing on the influence of soil and climate change. The winery is trail-blazing the rediscovery of Chiaretto di Nebbiolo and the wines of the 17th century – long before Barolo was created - through two limited-production wines: “N.S. della Neve” (a champagne-method rosé nature) and “Claré JC”, a partial whole-cluster fermentation of pure Nebbiolo.
High elevation vineyards are a unique factor to the Vajra wines, for their ability to express finesse and remarkable complexity over power.
Attention to details and humility towards the nature, uncompromised efforts and humanity: so are Aldo and Milena, now joined by their energetic children Giuseppe, Francesca and Isidoro, and by an amazing team of young professionals, in their quest for an authentic expression of their land into the wines. G.D. Vajra is an independent winery, entirely family-owned.
Responsible for some of the most elegant and age-worthy wines in the world, Nebbiolo, named for the ubiquitous autumnal fog (called nebbia in Italian), is the star variety of northern Italy’s Piedmont region. Grown throughout the area, as well as in the neighboring Valle d’Aosta and Valtellina, it reaches its highest potential in the Piedmontese villages of Barolo, Barbaresco and Roero. Outside of Italy, growers are still very much in the experimentation stage but some success has been achieved in parts of California. Somm Secret—If you’re new to Nebbiolo, start with a charming, wallet-friendly, early-drinking Langhe Nebbiolo or Nebbiolo d'Alba.
The center of the production of the world’s most exclusive and age-worthy red wines made from Nebbiolo, the Barolo wine region includes five core townships: La Morra, Monforte d’Alba, Serralunga d’Alba, Castiglione Falletto and the Barolo village itself, as well as a few outlying villages. The landscape of Barolo, characterized by prominent and castle-topped hills, is full of history and romance centered on the Nebbiolo grape. Its wines, with the signature “tar and roses” aromas, have a deceptively light garnet color but full presence on the palate and plenty of tannins and acidity. In a well-made Barolo wine, one can expect to find complexity and good evolution with notes of, for example, strawberry, cherry, plum, leather, truffle, anise, fresh and dried herbs, tobacco and violets.
There are two predominant soil types here, which distinguish Barolo from the lesser surrounding areas. Compact and fertile Tortonian sandy marls define the vineyards farthest west and at higher elevations. Typically the Barolo wines coming from this side, from La Morra and Barolo, can be approachable relatively early on in their evolution and represent the “feminine” side of Barolo, often closer in style to Barbaresco with elegant perfume and fresh fruit.
On the eastern side of the Barolo wine region, Helvetian soils of compressed sandstone and chalks are less fertile, producing wines with intense body, power and structured tannins. This more “masculine” style comes from Monforte d’Alba and Serralunga d’Alba. The township of Castiglione Falletto covers a spine with both soil types.
The best Barolo wines need 10-15 years before they are ready to drink, and can further age for several decades.