By The Glass

By Sherwin A. Lao

MY NEXT few columns, starting with this one, will look deeper into the wines I blind tasted at the Nebbiolo Prima 2020. For this week I will center on the Roero DOCG wines from vintage 2017, and the Roero Riserva from vintage 2016.

Roero is the least known and smallest of the three wine regions (the other two being Barolo and Barbaresco) featured at Nebbiolo Prima.

It is also the youngest among the three when it came to being established as a wine designated zone. Roero became a DOC (Denominazione di Origine Controllata) in 1985 and was promoted to DOCG (adding the “Garantita”) — the highest ranking among Italian wine classifications — in 2004. While Barolos and Barbarescos only have their famous reds, made from 100% Nebbiolo grapes, Roero has a white version, one of Piedmont’s proudest white wines, Arneis, classified as Arneis Roero DOCG. Roero DOCG reds are often known as a poor man’s Barolo or Barbaresco, given that the price is normally 30-50% cheaper than their more illustrious counterparts, with a bigger gap with Barolo than those of Barbaresco.

ROERO DOCG PARTICULARS
Based on numbers released by the Nebbiolo Prima organizers for the newly released vintages, Roero DOCG (red) only has 249 hectares of vineyards versus Barolo’s 2,091 hectares, and Barbaresco’s 750 hectares. The total production from the vineyards is just slightly below 500,000 bottles, or a miniscule 2.6% of the over 18.7 million bottles produced by the combined DOCG regions of Barolo, Barbaresco, and Roero. Roero’s better pricing against the other Nebbiolo DOCG wines is because of the less-strict rules on commercial release and barrel aging requirements that apply to it. For Roero DOCG, a minimum of 20 months aging, of which a minimum of six months should be in a barrel, are required before the earliest commercial release, and this is basically pegged at July 1 in the second year from vintage. For Barolo, it is 38 months minimum, with 18 months in a barrel. For Roero Riserva DOCG, a minimum of 32 months, of which a minimum of six months should be in a barrel, are required before the earliest commercial release on July 1 of the third year from vintage. A Barolo Riserva needs to be aged for 62 months, of which 18 months is in a barrel. Therefore, in reality, at our Nebbiolo Prima 2020 which took place late January, the Roero DOCG 2017 vintage and the Roero Riserva DOCG 2016 vintage that we were blind tasting were already being sold, either export or domestically, since July of 2019.

While Roero DOCG requires only 95% of the wine to be made from Nebbiolo grapes, the vast majority of the Roero producers use 100% Nebbiolo on their wines, same as neighboring Barolo and Barbaresco.

ROERO DOCG IMPROVEMENT
Roero is not a household name in wines and would probably never be given its miniscule size. My first Roero wine experience was when I attended Nebbiolo Prima 2015. Prior to that I had tasted Roero Arneis, the white Roero, but not the red version. In my first Nebbiolo Prima, Roero DOCG was previewing its 2012 vintage. I only gave three of the 24 Roero DOCG entries a score of 90 and above, or a measly 12.5%.

But in at this last Nebbiolo Prima, the 2017 vintage (not exactly a poster year for the region) of Roeros still seemed to be improving. I had some very animated conversations with my fellow journalists, and the common theme was that Roero wines are getting better with every new vintage. This year, we had slightly more Roero wines than last year: a total of 14 Roero 2017, versus last year’s 11 Roero 2016 entries. But my scores were higher too, with six of the 14 wines rated at 90 points and above, equivalent to 43% of total wines tasted. Last year, only four of 11 Roeros scored 90 points and above, equivalent to 36%. For the Roero Riserva 2016, the blind tasting result was even better. I loved several of the Roero Riserva 2016, scoring 10 of the 18 participating wines at 90 points or more, equivalent to an impressive 55.6%.

THE 2017 VINTAGE
The 2017 vintage in this entire Piedmont region stood out against its previous years because of its hot climate and little rainfall. The 2017 also came at the heels of two extremely good vintages in 2015 and 2016. Speaking to a few wine producers during our get-togethers, most admitted that the harvest of Nebbiolo grapes began in September, the earliest in memory from recent vintages. But quality is somehow still out for the jury to decide, as some wineries are talking of exceptional quality, while others experienced too much “burn” resulting in a lack of that much needed acid backbone.

MY RATINGS:
Please note these wines were tasted blind, and each wine was tasted for only a few minutes, given the huge quantity being tasted at any given morning during the entire Nebbiolo Prima event. Also understand that judgment of these wines was purely based on my personal biases and experience drinking, appreciating, and enjoying wines.

BEST ROERO DOCG 2017
My top six wines from this lot of 14 are the following:

1. Doltetto 1953 Roero 2017: 93 points. “fragrant nose of vanilla, figs, deep and luscious, minerally, yet easily approachable, and silky at the end”

2. Monchiero Carbone Roero 2017: 92 points. “deep and flavorful nose, notes of lavender, sweet oak, luscious and lingering finish”

3. Battaglino Fabrizio Roero 2017: 92 points. “lavender, perfumed, very round, minty, herbaceous, supple all the way”

4. Marsaglia Roero 2017: 91 points.

5-6. Both with 90 points. Bric Castelve Roero 2017 and Cascina Val Del Prete Roero 2017

Not surprisingly, in the blind tasting last year of Roero 2016 DOCG wines, I also gave Battaglino Fabrizio and Marsaglia a score of over 90 points.

BEST ROERO RISERVA DOCG 2016
My top 10 with 90 points score and over from a group of 18 wines:

1. Deltetto 1953 Roero Riserva 2016: 94 points. “tangy, very fresh, ripe, full bodied, screaming out of the glass, cassis, raisins, just incredible fruit power, full, viscous, long delicious finish”

2. Pelassa Roero Riserva 2016: 92 points. “hawthorn berries, deep and very lengthy, figs, well-structured, medium bodied, satin-like, suave all the way”

3-7. All with 91 points. Pace Roero Riserva 2016; Valdinera Roero Riserva 2016; Renato Buganza — Radici E Filari Roero Riserva 2016; Taliano Michele Roero Riserva 2016

Lorenzo Negro Roero Riserva 2016: 91pts.

8-10. All with 90 points. Malvirà Roero Riserva 2016; Monchiero Carbone Roero Riserva 2016; Cascina Del Pozzo Roero Riserva 2016

The biggest revelation to me was that Deltetto 1953 came as my No. 1 in both Roero DOCG 2017 and Roero Riserva DOCG 2016 in my blind tasting… an amazing feat indeed. When I checked my notes from Nebbiolo Prima 2015 and 2016, I found that Deltetto 1953 only participated in Nebbiolo Prima in 2016, and even then, I gave their Roero Riserva 2012 a high score of 91 points. Roero Riserva is the real bargain for me, and if you come across this wine region, please buy a few bottles as Roero no longer lives under the shadows of Barolo and Barbaresco, and their Riserva range is already an exceptional expression of what Nebbiolo grapes bring to the wine.

In my next column, I will tackle the Barbaresco 2017 vintage.

The author is a member of the UK-based Circle of Wine Writers (CWW). For comments, inquiries, wine event coverage, wine consultancy and other wine related concerns, e-mail the author at protegeinc@yahoo.com.

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