2014 Roagna, Barbaresco, Asili Vecchie Viti

The jump up in aromatic intensity is incredible once you start tasting from Roagna's line of Vecchie Vite, or old-vine wines. The 2014 Barbaresco Asili Vecchie Viti is a soft and enormously supple expression that shows beautifully integrated tannins, fruit and acidity. There is a note of sweet summer cherry that you notice first, duly followed by wild rose, candied orange peel and crushed stone. Fruit is drawn from a quarter-hectare site that has been farmed by the Roagna family since 1961, and the vines are more than 80 years old. The fruit is slightly more concentrated here, as is expected of old vines, and so is the acidity. Beautiful menthol notes add to that balanced freshness. The production numbers are very precious with only 1,200 bottles made.

The 2014 Barbaresco Asili Vecchie Viti is endowed with striking inner sweetness and the pure raciness that is the single most important Asili signature. Kirsch, hard candy, mint, blood orange, pomegranate and mint. Medium in body and yet wonderfully resonant, the 2014 captures all the best the vintage has to offer. It is a ridiculously beautiful wine. In a word: stunning!