Vietti - Barolo Ravera 2020 (750ml)
Wine Advocate: 95 Points
The Vietti 2020 Barolo Ravera offers dark fruit cherry and blackcurrant enhanced by soft spice. You also get a sun-kissed note of eggplant tomato leaf and ferrous earth. Ravera displays strong lines with good acidity and firm tannic backbone. It closes dry and ages in large oak botte only. This is one of the most eyeballed MGAs sites. Ravera with its open mountain skyline and cool temperatures is seen as one of the best sites in the appellation especially as the climate changes. This vintage produced exactly 10026 bottles. Vietti has access to Nebbiolo from 10 MGA sites to make the various wines in its ample portfolio. We also have a new wine to celebrate?the 2019 Barbaresco Riserva Rabajà?that knocks it out of the ballpark with its inaugural release. Published: Apr 04 2024
Vinous: 94 Points
Picked on October 9 and 10 the 2020 Barolo Ravera has plenty of Ravera classicism and tension but also feels a bit light in the mid-palate. Ravera is never a huge wine in body but the depth is often there even if expressed in an understated and more linear manner. The 2020 lacks that depth. Red-toned fruit blood orange mint spice and white pepper lend brilliance throughout. - By Antonio Galloni on November 2023 I tasted a wide range of wines on my most recent visit to Vietti. Starting with the 2020 Barolos I tasted every wine from a just-opened bottle and a bottle that had been double-decanted two hours prior to my arrival. Aeration can be a tricky thing with young just-bottled wines. Sometimes air can help young wines open but also shut them down hard. In 2020 the double-decanted bottles showed better. Overall there is a bit more variation from wine to wine than I am used to seeing while some of the Barolos are on the lighter side. In 2020 virtually all the fruit for the single-vineyard Barolos was picked in late September before the early October rains. Harvest resumed on October 5 with the second portion of Lazzarito and various parcels used in the Barolo Castiglione. The 2020s spent about 24 days on the skins with submerged cap maceration for most lots. Time in cask was 24-26 months. Readers will note several new wines in the range. Vietti?s 2019 Barbaresco Riserva Rabajà is stellar. The same is true incidentally of the 2020 Barbaresco Roncaglie. I have long admired the Barbarescos here. That is once again the case this year. The 2016 Barolo Riserva is the next incarnation of the 2015 Barolo Riserva that was released last year but it was made from different vineyards and vinified with a high percentage of whole clusters. I would be remiss if I did not spend some time on the entry-level offerings. The 2021 Barberas are fabulous. These are wines I bought often as a young consumer and continue to enjoy as often as possible. Ripeness and oak impact have been dialed back which really allows the purity of the fruit to come through.
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