2005 Bruno Rocca Barbaresco Rabaja
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Tasting notes
The 2005 Barbaresco Rabajà bristles with cool energy and salivating acidity that gives the flavors much of their bright, red-toned hues. Expressive aromatic overtones add complexity. The 2005 is just as impressive as it was a few years ago, but readers might want to give it another year or two in bottle.
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Average Score
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
Antonio Galloni, Vinous
More reviews and scores
The 2005 Barbaresco Rabajà was one of the standouts of my tastings. This wine's sheer class and pedigree are unmistakable. A gorgeous bouquet of smoke, minerals, tar and menthol melds seamlessly onto an expansive palate of ripe dark fruit. The wine remains brooding and backward in a classic, textbook expression of Rabajà. This wine will require significant patience but it is a gem from one of Barbaresco's most inspired producers.
The 2005 Barbaresco Rabaja was one of the standouts of my tastings. This wine’s sheer class and pedigree are unmistakable. A gorgeous bouquet of smoke, minerals, tar and menthol melds seamlessly onto an expansive palate of ripe dark fruit. The wine remains brooding and backward in a classic, textbook expression of Rabaja. This wine will require significant patience but it is a gem from one of Barbaresco’s most inspired producers. Anticipated maturity: 2015-2025. Proprietor Bruno Rocca makes some of the most friendly, fruit-driven wines in Barbaresco. Importers: Trilussa Wine Company, Greenbrae CA; tel. (415) 499-8466; Indigenous Selections, Fort Lauderdale FL; tel. (954) 530-4021
Good full red. Captivating aromas of black cherry, violet, rose petal, menthol, minerals and cocoa. Juicy, precise and delineated but leaner than the 2004; a more vertical style of wine, with a slightly spikier spine of tannins and acids. But I find this very true to the vintage. Finishes with a note of licorice and good palate-coating flavor. Rocca's Rabaja is aged in a combination of barriques and 25-hectoliter casks, with about 25% new oak used.