Roagna’s Barbesrsco Pajé Vecchie Viti is produced from old vines in one of the most historically prestigious crus in the Barbaresco appellation, situated in an amphitheatre of south and south-east facing vines on Tortonian limestone and calcareous marl soils in the commune of Barbaresco. The Pajé cru is distinguished within Roagna’s range by its combination of structural power and textural breadth: where the Montefico VV provides mineral austerity and aromatic precision, Pajé tends towards a slightly richer, more broadly constituted style in which the weight of the old vine material and the depth of the soil’s limestone reserves produce wines of formidable concentration and age-worthiness. Luca Roagna farms the estate’s Pajé parcel using the same biodynamic-adjacent principles applied across all Roagna holdings: no herbicides or pesticides, massale selection for replanting and very low yields from vines of a minimum 50 years of age.

The 2017 Piedmont vintage was one of the most challenging of recent decades, with a warm dry winter followed by spring frosts, hailstorms and a summer that required very careful management to avoid over-ripeness. For traditionally-minded producers like Roagna who work with old vines whose deep root systems are better buffered against climatic extremes, 2017 produced wines of surprisingly elegant character: more floral and less powerfully concentrated than the great 2016 or 2019, but endowed with the kind of precision and definition that comes from careful viticulture in a difficult year. Wine Advocate awarded the 2017 Barbaresco Pajé Vecchie Viti 96 points and Vinous 94 points, confirming the quality that Roagna achieved from this challenging vintage.

The rarity of Roagna’s old vine Barbaresco crus is a persistent feature of the fine wine market: with production from the Pajé VV parcel typically numbering fewer than 1,500 bottles per vintage, demand from collectors in Europe and Asia consistently outpaces supply. The combination of the 2017 vintage’s unexpected elegance, Roagna’s documented critical reception and the estate’s policy of releasing wines only after five or more years of ageing makes this wine one of the most compelling Barbaresco acquisitions currently available from one of the appellation’s most respected estates.

Pale garnet with a floral and mineral nose of dried rose, red cherry, camphor, iron, orange peel, spice and the characteristic old vine Nebbiolo precision of the Pajé cru on Tortonian limestone. Full-bodied with very fine, silky tannins, excellent natural acidity and a long, complex, mineral finish of great elegance and persistence. Best from 2027 through 2052.

A silky and fragile wine in character with dried cherry, iris root and iodine. The Roagna house style shows very fine tannins. Sweet red-toned fruit, spice, chalk, mint and blood orange are some of the many aromas that build into an intense finish. — Wine Advocate