2024 Albino Rocca Barbera d'Alba, Piedmont

Albino Rocca Nebbiolo d’Alba is a beautifully expressive Piedmont red that captures everything people love about Nebbiolo, without the long wait demanded by Barolo and Barbaresco. Sourced from vineyards around Alba, this is Nebbiolo shaped by limestone rich soils, rolling hills and a cooler continental climate that favours perfume, structure and clarity.

Albino Rocca is one of the quietly respected family estates of Piedmont. Founded in the 1950s and now guided by the next generation, the winery is known for its thoughtful approach to traditional varieties and its deep respect for site. While Albino Rocca is famous for its Barbaresco crus, their Nebbiolo d’Alba is treated with the same care, offering a transparent, vineyard driven expression rather than a simple second wine.

In the glass, the wine is lifted and precise. Red cherry, strawberry and cranberry lead, followed by rose petal, dried herbs and a subtle hint of orange peel. There is a gentle earthy note and a fine mineral edge that give the wine depth without weight. The palate is medium bodied and energetic, with bright acidity and fine, dusty tannins that frame the fruit and carry the finish.

This is Nebbiolo that loves food and conversation. It pairs beautifully with pasta, mushroom dishes, roast chicken, pork or lightly grilled meats. It is approachable when young for its fragrance and balance, yet it also rewards a few years in the cellar, gaining savoury complexity and polish.

Albino Rocca Nebbiolo d’Alba is a reminder that Nebbiolo does not always need grandeur to be compelling. When handled with care and grown in the right place, it delivers charm, detail and unmistakable Piedmont character.