This is technically billed as a Langhe Nebbiolo but is really an historic experiment by the crew at Vajra to recreate the style of wine written about by Thomas Jefferson in the late 18th Century: fairly light, silky and sweet like Madeira, tannic like Bordeaux and slightly effervescent. In a difficult year for Barolo, the slightly underripe nature of the grapes apparently was the trigger to finally make the wine.
It pours from the bottle a deep rose color with a beautifully rich nose of wild strawberry, cherry and raspberry. The light touch of rose petal and even a bit of tobacco doesn’t hit me until tasted, but then, even for a light wine, the tannins start gripping and I am thinking to myself - yes, this is definitely Nebbiolo. The mouthfeel is just barely effervescent (I’ve gotten more fizz out of a 2005 R-M Sunma) and the sweetness is barely perceptible (and more akin to a supermarket rose level or a commercial champagne than even a feinherb. Barely, barely, there).
Overall, a thoroughly enjoyable drinking experience. Not at all profound, but not desiring to be. The balance really is just between a good rose and a good Langhe Rosso. Rarely does a rose have the tannic bite of this wine though. Definitely chuggable (he says, 2/3 of the way through the bottle). Serve chilled on a hot summer day.
No idea. This was an increasingly rare Garagiste purchase. Rimmerman made it sound like a labor of love that was possible financially only because the grapes wouldn’t necessarily have made it into the real Barolo. I guess we wait for crappy vintages?
I loved it, and wished I had bought a case instead of 2 bottles. I"d be even more interested however if they had made it like a kabinett, and had more perceptible levels of RS in addition to the effervescence