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

Jay_Miller · August 13, 2020, 10:27pm

1996 Roagna Barolo La Rocca e La Pira - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo (8/13/2020)
After my first bottle I wasn’t going to take a chance pouring this for anyone else so I had it with some lamb chops for dinner. Well, they could not have been more different. The beautiful bouquet the first bottle had was absent but it did not fall apart quickly either.
Closed nose, quite tannic, fruit leaning towards cherry, hard as nails. It softens a bit with air but even one day 2 it represents itself as one’s worst fears of what a classic 1996 Barolo might taste like if opened at age 24. Hold. And then hold some more.

Posted from CellarTracker

John_Morris · August 13, 2020, 10:54pm

Did you decant this ahead? Just curious.

Jay_Miller · August 16, 2020, 8:46pm

No, because on the first bottle it showed brilliantly right out of the bottle and then fell apart.

John_Morris · August 16, 2020, 8:55pm

Now THAT’S weird.

I have one bottle and you’ve perplexed me: Will it be tough as nails or fall apart?

Keith_Levenberg · August 17, 2020, 2:14am

I remember this being okay on release and pretty crappy a couple years thereafter. I got rid of mine and you could’ve knocked me over with a feather when Roagna became a culty name.

Todd_Tucker · August 17, 2020, 5:06am

Jay and John,

I’ve had variable results with Roagna’s wines of that era. I think they were less meticulous back then and bottle variation has been at least in my experience a big issue with their pre- Luca bottlings.

I think Luca (I think this first vintage was 02 or 03) has dramatically changed the quality there for the better, and the level of finesse and power without weight is an entirely different creature than bottles from before. He has really hit his stride of late. His wines nowadays likely merit the attention they are getting. I think his VV bottlings and Crichet Paje are ambitiously priced, but every time I have one, I am impressed by the cohesion and grace. Will I buy them? No, but I pretty much avoid buying wines priced like that anymore anyway, certainly ones that may not peak until I am past peak. I think his Paje, Pira and Langhe Rosso bottlings are terrific and still offer great value, and I buy them nearly every year.

Pat_Martin · August 17, 2020, 6:54am

Chamber St had masses of this in half bottles for super cheap like 10 years ago and I bought 8 or 9 bottles… and they’ve all been like your bottle described here, Jay — hard as nails. I still have 4-5 and I have no idea when I’ll try one again.

Jay_Miller · August 17, 2020, 4:27pm

After they changed distributors the old distributor did a dump and there was a lot around of Roagna at good prices. Someone brought one to a dinner at the old Il Corso which I liked (it might have been a 1995? At this point I don’t remember) so I picked up a few 750s and halves.