The New Roagna’s Here! The New Roagna’s Here!
Oh happy happy day! If you you read this blog you know I worship at the alter of the bitch goddess Nebbiolo. No one is more expert in coaxing her feminine whiles than Agricola Roagna.
Once, long ago, two friends diverged in the wood, Angelo Gaja went one way and Senor Roagna the other. I’ve never been a follower of Gaja because I’d have to be able to afford him first (though his wines have padded my tips on several occasions). Roagna’s road less travelled, and the wines born of them, are magical. For a fraction of the cost of a bottle of Gaja, you can still experience the perfection of the goddess. She lives in every goddamn bottle of Roagna Pajé Barbaresco. Every. Goddamn. One.
Nebbiolo is closest in style to Pinot Noir. But she’s not so much a pretty, perky pleaser as Pinot Noir. She has aristocratic airs and rough, unkempt edges. The Italians use a phrase: “tar and violets” to describe her. To me, Nebbiolo is best encapsulated by Ava Gardner in The Barefoot Contessa, an aloof and captivating beauty born of gypsies. I will stop lest I tread too close to the pit of verbosity. If you’re starting to think about that special bottle or four for the holidays…
**Roagna wines are distributed in WA state by Triage Wines and imported into the USA by the most execellent House of Louis/Dressner.
November 4th, 2006 at 11:25 pm
You sold a mini vertical of this to me a few years ago. It’s one of my all time top drinking memories. And if I remember it was 3 bottles for less than one Gaja.
November 5th, 2006 at 8:55 am
Could you elaborate on “the road less traveled” that you feel Roagna has taken? Are you refering to winemaking or marketing choices?
November 5th, 2006 at 3:18 pm
By road less travelled I mean both. Many try to reshape the goddess in the image of modern tastes and for the brass ring of more money. Roagna worships the goddess and makes the best Nebbiolo wines he can from what nature offers, not the biggest wines for scoring or whoring. As long as there is an Agricola Roagna, there will be one true expression of the goddess. The man still works the vineyard, for chrissakes. Do you think Angie Gaja gets his Berlutis anywhere near the farm on a regular basis? Shyah. As if.
And don’t get me started on Gaja. I can’t fault the man for charging what he thinks his wines are worth, not when there are rich needle dicks aplenty willing to pay for it.
November 6th, 2006 at 4:55 pm
I’ll buy that!
November 8th, 2006 at 9:51 pm
I will have to try it! I had a 01 Rinaldi Brunate last night with a friend that had dinner with Beppe last week. He opened a bottle of 75 Barolo at dinner. She also had dinner with Angelo Gaja and his wife. Lovely people.