2020 Albino Rocca Angelo Barbaresco, Piedmont

The 2020 Barbaresco Angelo is an exotic wine. Macerated cherry, white flowers, apricot and spice are some of the many notes that grace this sensual, super-expressive Barbaresco. Fine tannins wrap it all together while lifted floral accents frame the finish. The Angelo is beautifully done.

94 points Antonio Galloni vinous.com

This producer has been through an incredible journey in recent years. The sudden passing of the family patriarch, Angelo Rocca, in 2012 was obviously the catalyst. Angelo was already moving the estate back to a more classic style (having come full circle), and after his passing, his three daughters decided to produce a wine in his honour. Speaking with their grandfather Albino Rocca (Angelo’s father and founder of the estate), the Rocca sisters formulated the idea of making a wine as it had been done back in Albino’s day. The first release of the Angelo Barbaresco was such a success that it has inspired evolution across all the wines, and two new wooden fermenters are now at the winery. 

Angelo is a small blend of fruit from selected parcels across the estate. It was given a lunga macerazione (50 days on skins using a submerged cap) in a large-format, specially designed Stockinger wooden fermenter. The wine then aged for 24 months in a single 2,000-litre cask. The blend is typically 50% Ronchi, 25% Ovello and 25% Montersino. Galloni has described it as a “Brunate of Barbaresco”, which gives you some insight into the quality on offer here. 

As you would expect, the 2020 Angelo is the most complex and brooding of Rocca’s 2020 Barbarescos. Given time, the wine’s ethereal structure and lush, red-fruited succulence will mesh nicely with the layers of dried flowers, deep spice and earthy depth. In the meantime, there is something charmingly ‘old school’ that the extended maceration has brought—something indescribably complex, too. Yet, the wine remains magically fresh, pure and refined, with the supporting structure hovering in the background.