Tenuta Olim Bauda Barbera d'Asti Le Rocchette 2022

A rich red color and a spicy aroma, with hints of cedar, oak, and fresh red fruit. The full, juicy flavor lingers long, with crisp acidity and light tannins.

The Piedmont wine region boasts two completely different grape varieties that can produce superb wines. The tangy and tannic Nebbiolo grape dominates in Barolo, while the fresh, elegant Barbera produces beautiful results in Alba and Asti.

 

The latter produces the exceptionally fine red wine from Tenuta Olim Bauda. The crisp, fresh Barbera grape, combined with 18 months of oak aging, achieves a complex, round, and smooth flavor.

 

The grapes for the powerful Le Rocchette are harvested by hand only in the second half of October. Dino Bertolino selects old vines, which produce grapes with greater concentration and ripeness. This selection is crucial for the winemaking process, as Le Rocchette matures for approximately eighteen months in large 2,500-liter French oak barrels.

A light Barbera, for example, from a younger vineyard, wouldn't be able to handle this and would quickly develop an overdose of oak. For this exceptional and award-winning Le Rocchette, however, it's a very positive development. The flavor and aroma become more complex due to the slow and even aging in large barrels, and the wine retains the unique flavor qualities of optimally ripe Barbera grapes.

Brothers Dino and Gianni make Le Rocchette, one of Piedmont's finest Barberas. Enjoy it like the Italians do, paired with a dish, or simply with cheese or sausage and bread.

 

Viticulture is incredibly hard work, producing a product that seems to have been born effortlessly. "Making wine is both practical and poetic," they say at Tenuta Olim Bauda in Piedmont. It requires a great deal of knowledge, dedication, dedication, and patience. Although brothers Dino and Gianni, and their sister Diana Bertolino, grew up with it—the estate has been in the family for generations—making good wine is never a given.

Olim Bauda is located in northeastern Italy, in the province of Asti, which itself lies within the Monferrato region. Dino, Gianni, and Diana produce a range of wines from six vineyards here, including well-known names like Barbera d'Asti and Moscato d'Asti. They also grow the lesser-known Grignolino grape, an ancient—and difficult—Piedmontese variety.

The contrast between poetry and hard work is reflected in the cellars. On the one hand, a magnificent historic barrel cellar where the wines rest and mature, on the other, a modern space with gleaming tanks where fermentation takes place under strictly controlled conditions. This results in wines that convey the typical characteristics of Italian grapes, polished by the advantages of modern technology. In other words: a vibrant, characterful, yet smooth wine, which you'll easily find yourself drinking again.