G.D. Varjra Vineyards

If you’ve never been to the small Piemontese villages where Italy’s greatest red wines — Barolo and Barbaresco — are produced, you need to go. The little hamlets around Alba provide the greatest combination of spirited, innovative producers, fabulously cerebral wines and sensational food on the world’s wine trails. We don’t miss a vintage.

But, despite our love affair with the region, these wines are difficult to understand. These Nebbiolos are as varied as the personalities of the individuals who make them. In the same village, neighboring producers can make strikingly different wines. Some are modern and technical. Others are ‘old school’ — often tough and unyielding. But to us, the sweet spot is somewhere in the middle where producers make rich, concentrated wines that feature unbelievably complex, vinous aromatics that make Barolo what it is — the King of Italian wine. It’s here in the middle that one finds Aldo Vajra, one of Barolo’s very best producers of rich, classically structured, long-living Barolo. Let’s just say, when you visit and taste with Aldo, you want to take your empty glass home just for the olfactory memory.

Aldo is a perfectionist in the vineyards and in the cellar. He’s also somewhat of a non-interventionist, letting the grapes do their thing, letting each vintage speak in the bottle. While we love this about the man and his wines, it’s not always the easiest approach commercially. With one caveat. When the vintage is near perfect, Vajra makes wines that are concentrated and tightly wound, wines that need a 20 ounce Riedel glass and plenty of time to enjoy the slow disrobing of a pure Nebbiolo. It’s something to behold. The 2004 growing season was perfect and this 2004 is Nebbiolo in all its glory.

Here’s what happened in 2004. The summer months were actually less than spectacular, but with varieties like Nebbiolo, the tale is usually told at the end of the growing season. September 2004 welcomed warm days and cool nights, key to even ripening for the capricious variety. Aldo told us that the weather was so good and so reliable that the family just waited and waited — anxiety-free — finally choosing to harvest in October under glorious blue skies. The grapes were not only perfectly ripe, but perfectly clean. The wines virtually made themselves.

Tasting Notes from the WineAccess Travel Log
“Deep ruby color. Complex aromas of red fruit, pine needles and underbrush. Excellent concentration on the palate with layers of rich red/plum fruit. After an hour: intense floral aromas, dried flowers and rich red frults, pine needles. Great depth of flavor. Two hours: still coming on, lush and velour-like. Excellent finish with fine acidity and ripe tannins. Drink now-2020.”
–WineAccess, May2008