2014 Roagna, Barbaresco, Montefico Vecchie Viti

You can almost feel that inner engine revving as this wine opens in the glass. The Roagna 2014 Barbaresco Montefico Vecchie Viti is perhaps the most focused and structured in this series. The Montefico vineyard in Barbaresco is characterized by calcareous clay soils with gray and blue marl. The vines are more than 90 years old, and this site has been farmed by the Roagna family since 1929. Montefico ripens last, allowing the grapes to benefit from long phenolic maturity. Thanks to these various factors, the bouquet is packed with plum, dark cherry, blue flower, campfire smoke and cured tobacco. There is a point of fleeting sweetness on the close followed by rich fiber and lasting spice or balsam herb. Those flavors linger on the palate for an extremely long time. A mere 1,195 bottles were produced.

The 2014 Barbaresco Montefico Vecchie Viti is laser-like in its focus. Then again, we are talking about Montefico. Linear and driven in feel, the 2014 is going to appeal most to readers who like super-classic, austere wines. Montefico is nervous on its own, but in this cold vintage it is especially tight. I can't wait to taste it with bottle age. Tobacco, dried cherry, crushed flowers, cedar, orange peel, anise, sage, and mint give the 2014 a decidedly earthy, savory feel to play off the super-persistent, long and utterly brilliant finish.