Barbaresco 'Rabajà-Bas' Castello di Verduno 2020
The Barbaresco "Rabajà-Bas" by Castello di Verduno is an intense Piedmontese red wine from the Langhe and made from Nebbiolo. The grapes come from one of the most famous Barbaresco cru, Rabajà selecting only those obtained from the lowest rows in altitude: this gives a full-bodied wine, rich in aromas like red fruits, withered flowers, balsamic echoes of eucalyptus and licorice that anticipate a velvety and complex taste.
The Barbaresco “Rabajà-Bas” from Castello di Verduno has only one adjective that can sincerely and exhaustively describe it: regal. No other word is more appropriate for this wine born from a winery that was acquired by royalty in 1838 and passed into the hands of the current owners, the Burlotto family, in 1909. The grapes for this Barbaresco take root in one of the historic crus of the territory: Rabajà, but only the lowest rows are selected and worked, which is why “Bas” is added to the vineyard name on the label.
The “Rabajà-Bas” Barbaresco Castello di Verduno extracts power and elegance from the “Marna di Sant’Agata,” a particular type of soil made up of a high content of limestone and clay. The selection of the grapes is strictly manual, in order to maintain the very high quality standards that the market for this historic wine requires. Once in the winery, fermentation begins through the activation of the indigenous yeasts with a maceration in wooden vats for 40 days and characterized by the ancient technique of submerged cap, useful for pushing the extraction from the skins to the limit even after fermentation has ended. This is followed by aging for 20 months in Slavonian oak barrels and a maturation in bottle of another 18 months. Prior to bottling, no type of filtration or clarification of the wine is carried out.
Splendid and vibrant is the garnet red of Castello di Verduno Barbaresco “Rabajà-Bas.” The nose has a texture so full and well-defined that it would make even the best Hollywood screenwriter pale. Ripe berries, such as blackberry and raspberry, are tied to a timid mineral note capable of enhancing the fine aroma of resin. Licorice and black pepper integrate and bring vigor to this crazy mosaic of aromas. Once brought to the mouth, the palate is smoothed by a tonic tannin but with a sweet texture. A warm and fresh sip is refined by the infinite persistence of this expression of Barbaresco that immediately brings to mind the Leopardi verse: “And to be shipwrecked is sweet to me in this sea”… a sea of wine, of course.