Tenuta Olim Bauda Barbera d'Asti Le Rocchette 2022

Full red colour and spicy spicy aroma, with some cedar, oak and fresh red fruit. The full, juicy taste lingers long, with fresh acids and light tannin.

The Piedmont wine region has two completely different grapes that (can) produce great wines. The spicy and tannic Nebbiolo grape dominates in Barolo while the fresh elegant Barbera produces beautiful results in Alba and Asti.

 

From the latter comes the particularly beautiful red wine of Tenuta Olim Bauda. The spicy fresh barbera grape obtains in combination with 18 months of oak maturation a complex round and smooth taste.

 

The grapes for the powerful Le Rocchette are only harvested by hand in the second half of October. Dino Bertolino selects old vines, which give grapes with more concentration and ripeness. This selection is important for the winemaking process, because Le Rocchette matures for about eighteen months in large 2,500 liter barrels made of French oak.

A light Barbera, for example from a younger vineyard, would not be able to handle this and would quickly have an overdose of oak influence. For this special and award-winning Le Rocchette it works out very positively. The taste and smell become more complex due to the slow and even maturation in the large barrels and the wine retains the unique taste qualities of optimally ripe Barbera grapes.

Brothers Dino and Gianni make one of the most beautiful Barbera's of Piedmont with Le Rocchette. Drink the wine like the Italians at the table with a matching dish, or simply with cheese or sausage and bread.

 

Viticulture is hard work to produce a product that seems to have come into being effortlessly. 'Making wine is practical and poetic at the same time', they say at Tenuta Olim Bauda in Piemonte. It requires a lot of knowledge, dedication, commitment 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 self-evident.

Olim Bauda is located in the northeast of Italy, in the province of Asti and within that in the region of Monferrato. Dino, Gianni and Diana make a range of wines from six vineyards here, including well-known names such as Barbera d'Asti and Moscato d'Asti. They also grow the lesser-known grape grignolino, an old - and difficult - Piedmontese variety.

The contrast between poetry and hard work is reflected in the cellars. On the one hand, a magnificent historical barrel cellar where the wines rest and mature, on the other hand, a modern space with gleaming tanks where fermentation takes place under strictly controlled conditions. It produces wines that carry the typical characteristics of Italian grapes, polished by the advantages of modern technology. In other words: spicy, characterful but still smooth wine, of which you can drink another glass without any effort.