Vajra Barolo Ravera 2019 (750ML)

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#30 Kerin O'Keefe Top 100 Italian Wines of 2023

Intensely fragrant, G.D. Vajra’s stunning 2019 Ravera features aromas of violet, iris, red berry, baking spice and menthol. It’s luminous, elegantly structured and focused, offering sour cherry, raspberry, star anise and crushed mint alongside taut, refined tannins. Drink 2027–2044. Abv: 14%-Kerin O’Keefe

The organic G.D. Vajra 2019 Barolo Ravera (with fruit from the most sought-after cru in the village of Novello) reveals gorgeous tonality and color. The wine shines bright with dark ruby and garnet gemstone. Healthy Nebbiolo colors like this can be admired across the 2019 vintage. Ravera represents a union of different geologies from Barolo and Castiglione Falletto. The site has shown extraordinary versatility, especially in the face of climate change, to make wines of both strength and elegance. It is softly textured but also strong in fiber, with silky sensations followed by dark fruit and concentration. Ravera has a character all its own, and the operative word here is power.-Monica Larner, The Wine Advocate

The 2019 Barolo Ravera is redolent of red fruit, mint, chalk, white pepper and orange peel. A Barolo of
tension and energy, the 2019 is intensely bright and saline to the core. I would not dream of touching a
bottle anytime soon. This is an especially taut style, even for Vajra.-Antonio Galloni, Vinous Media

There’s plenty of latent fruit in this this graceful and complex red, in the form of cherry, raspberry and plum, along with notes of flowers, tar, mineral and underbrush. Rich, balanced and long, this has well-integrated tannins that mingle with the ripe fruit flavors. Best from 2027 through 2046. 830 cases made.-Bruce Sanderson, Wine Spectator

Moving into a touch of purple flowers, the 2019 Barolo Ravera also has a touch of darker pigment as well as a more assertive nature, with black raspberry, mineral-rich earth, and pepper. It is medium to full-bodied, with more ripe, sweet tannins and notes of kirsch, tea leaf, and iron-rich earth. It is long on the palate and has broader shoulders in its profile, with both its fruit and its structure. Hold another few years and drink 2026-2046.-Audrey Frick, JebDunnuck

Pretty fruit here with subtlety and verve. Flowers and hibiscus tea with orange peel and berries. Medium body. Fine tannins and a fresh finish. From organically grown grapes. Drink after 2026.-James Suckling

Full bottle 1,326 g. Certified organic (Ecocert), sustainable (SQNPI). The soil here is differentiated by the presence of tiny, black manganese conglomerates and iron oxide – the soil has white layers with red stripes (‘the lasagne effect’), according to Giuseppe Vajra. It's in an 'amphitheatre' which creates a specific microclimate. Aged 28 months. 25, 50? Slavonian oak.
A tightly coiled wine with bold, bittersweet mid-palate juiciness tucked deeply into wide, strong, mineral-dense tannins. It smells of an abandoned stone quarry in the first milk-and-iron light of a winter morning. Tannins which feel like super-fine-grade sandpaper. Darjeeling tea and chestnuts, tart cherry, crushed green caraway leaves. The finish is compact, dry and susurrant. After 48 hours of being open (literally, no cork in the bottle for 48 hours), the defensive astringent rasp of the tannins had settled deep into the wine, like the groove of sax and brass into the coffee-stained damsons of late-night blues. If you're drinking this wine before it's a decade old, open it the day before and leave the decanter in a cool, dark place. It's so beautiful but it responds like a medieval fortress to being opened – you'll need to lure that drawbridge open.-- (TC), Jancis Robinson