TN: 1996 Roagna Barolo La Rocca e La Pira (Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo)

WINE TALK
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  • 1996 Roagna Barolo La Rocca e La Pira - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo (6/23/2020)
    Opened as part of our first blind zoom tasting from 3 oz glass bottle.

When I decanted this and poured it into the bottles it has a pure and beautiful nose and a tiny pour showed fruit redolent of raspberries.

Unfortunately when poured from the small glass bottles it has that really cheesy funky offputting nose you sometimes get with old Barolo. I kept hoping it would blow off but it didn’t over the course of the Zoom call.

Quite good on the palate if you could get past the nose. Still tannic but a fine match with the steak and mushrooms I cooked to go with it. But disappointing overall and I’m not certain whether to serve my remaining bottle immediately after opening or give it a really long decant.

Purchased as part of the distributor close out about 20 years ago.

Posted from CellarTracker

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You bought some of those in that close-out, too?

I don’t really know what you mean by cheesy/funky. That doesn’t seem typical to me.

I’m sitting on my 96s. I assume they would require a serious decant now, because it was tannic, high-acid year.

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also mushroomy? I get it every so often on old Barolo but it usually isn’t as bad and blows off.

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The only 96 I had recently was an Oddero vigna rionda and it wasn’t great - huge wine with big enough olive notes to make me wonder if someone had snuck in a whole bunch of syrah into my Barolo.

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Jay, nice to see you posting tasting notes! [cheers.gif]

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Thanks Greg. I’ve had a bit more time on my hands since SIP started.

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Haven’t we all! It’s the opportunities to drink good wines that have been missing. [cry.gif]

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Thanks for the fine note Jay. I hope you and A are well.
I’ve had mixed results with that bottling. I bought a case of 375s of this and the barbaresco during what I suspect was the clearance you are talking about. I think older (pre Luca) Roagna wines have more variability than the wines he is making now. I’ve had some outstanding ones, but too many ones that seem off. Re: 96. I think the vintage is just starting to show its stuff. I think it is classic outstanding Barolo/Barbaresco vintage.

Thanks again for sharing and I hope you stay healthy.

Best,

Todd

Greg, I wouldn’t take the Oddero as indicative of the '96 vintage. I think that particular house at that time frame, and until just recently, was doing a terrific job of punishing great fruit with poor elevage choices. I’ve had several vintages of their VR (and other cru bottlings) from that time frame through the late '00s, and they have been invariably uninspiring and clumsy. That said, they have had a fantastic turnaround since at a minimum '15 and I have heard as early as '13. I had stopped tasting there for several years until last year as I thought they were a lost cause. The '15s were a revelation. I missed the '16s this year due to the world turning upside down, so did not get to try them at release, but they were looking promising in the phase they were in last year.

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Thank you for the notes. I’m sitting on their 2013 Pajè and am curious to try the Langhe Rosso from the same year, which might just be the most consensually praised wine I’ve ever seen in its price range.

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Todd, I agree - I find pre 2011 Oddero extremely, ah, variable. I tasted there last fall (as you say, before the world turned upside down) and the wines are certainly vastly better - frankly at both Oddero addresses. A nice change of pace, especially since the holdings are great and the pricing isn’t prohibitive. I bought some 16s.