2011 Roagna, Barbaresco, Paje Crichet

I loved the 2011 Barbaresco Crichët Pajé when it was first released. It is every bit as special today. A wine of explosive energy and intensity, the 2011 is endowed with notable textural depth. In this tasting, it comes across as quite young.

It's easy to fall into the cult of Crichët Pajé. The wine's name means "little hill" in Piemontese dialect, and the winemaking process is carefully weighed and contemplated. The Roagna 2011 Barbaresco Crichët Pajé is fermented with indigenous yeasts, with submerged cap and sees eight long years of aging in both oak and cement. Fruit is drawn from a half-hectare, south-facing parcel high on the Pajé slope that has been farmed by this family since 1953. The bouquet reveals wild berry fruit, rose hip, cedar, crushed stone, smoke and licorice. This expression is lightweight in texture, yet it expertly balances a full load of aromas and flavors on that small frame. The heat of the vintage has not hurt the freshness or the sharpness that you perceive here. The only obstacle is that this wine from the "little hill," carries a hefty price tag. Some 1,560 bottles were made.