I often say that I’d drink Barbaresco and Barolo more often if I could afford it—somehow forgetting that Ronchi’s Barbaresco is out there, beckoning me, delivering the Nebbiolo goods year in and year out at an incredible price. Over the years, I waved in countless cases of Ronchi at restaurants like Babbo in New York and Quince in San Francisco, because it is the ideal ‘sweet spot’ wine: a pitch-perfect example of type at a price even an Italian wine neophyte will recognize as a serious bargain.
This year, with today’s ’16, I’m finally going to wake up and grab a case for myself. Why shouldn’t I drink at the highest level all the time? I think I deserve it, and so do you. This is everything one could ask for in classically styled, artisanal Barbaresco—all the aromatic intrigue, powerful structure, and earthy complexity the Nebbiolo grape is famous for, already delicious but poised to get even better over the next 10+ years. It deserves a place among the greatest-value wines in Barbaresco, right next to those of the iconic Produttori del Barbaresco. I’m not missing my shot at it this year, and neither should you!
The Ronchi property is based in the village of Barbaresco proper, with the family house perched atop the ‘cru’ vineyard of the same name (for the Italian wine geeks out there, the Ronchi vineyard is bordered by “Montestefano” to the north and “Moccagatta” to the south—two of the best-known single-vineyard sites in the zone). This amphitheater-shaped vineyard, in which the vines average 30-40 years of age, has a southeastern aspect and runs up to the border with the village of Neive to the east. The Rocca family has been in this spot for four generations, and today, winemaker Giancarlo Rocca presides over about 7 hectares (16 acres). Working without any pesticides or herbicides, Rocca is also a traditionalist in the cellar, aging his wines only in the large, Slavonian oak vats known as botti and bottling his wines unfined and unfiltered.
And as a little bit of research will reveal, the long and even 2016 may be even better than the blockbuster 2015: Critic Antonio Galloni dubbed it a “potentially historic vintage” for Barbaresco, describing the perfect weather throughout the summer that led to a relatively late October harvest of beautifully balanced, physiologically perfect fruit. Balance is indeed a hallmark of Ronchi’s ’16, which displays a deep, luminous garnet-red core with crimson and pink reflections at the rim. Textbook Barbaresco aromas of black cherry, red currant, rose petal, licorice, sandalwood, leather, and underbrush leap from the glass and carry over to the medium-plus-bodied palate, with ripe but firm tannins that frame the fruit and lend that inimitable Barbaresco/Barolo backbone. This is a bold, muscular Barbaresco with lots of great drinking ahead of it, though with about an hour in a decanter it is quite approachable and delicious right now: Serve it at 60-65 degrees in Burgundy stems with something with a little fat and smoke to it (as in the attached recipe) and be assured that an unfinished bottle will be as good, or better, on days two and three. Be sure to save some bottles for enjoyment 10-15 years down the line—it’s got that kind of potential, which is not something said very often about $35 bottles of wine. If you love Italian reds, it must not be missed! Enjoy!
