Solea, Langhe Bianco
    Roagna

    Solea, Langhe Bianco, 2019

    89/100
    Vinous
    Available Vintages
    portfolio
    1. Last Few

      2019

      1.5L

      DP

      £239.32

    Justerini & Brooks Tasting note

    Roagna’s Langhe Bianco from their Castiglione Falletto Pira vineyard. A blend of 80% Chardonnay & 20% clear Nebbiolo juice, fermented & aged in tino for 18 mths (including malolactic fermentation. Influenced by the cool, late harvest 2019 season, this is an unique, intense, minerally and fresh wine with a backbone that makes this a Bianco to lay down for a years. 12.5%

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    Critic Reviews

    89/100
    Antonio Galloni,
    Vinous
    The 2019 Solea is bright and taut, certainly moreso than previous years. Luca Roagna's drive towards making age-worthy whites has yielded an unusually closed Solea. Readers should plan on cellaring the 2019 for at least a year or two, which may be the very first time I have ever advised cellaring a Piedmont white! Almond, dried flowers, mint and lemon confit linger.
    drinking window 2023 - 2029
    date of review 09/2021

    product details

    2019 Vintage

    This is a special release indeed. Not only is 2019 clearly a great year across Piedmont, but it is a vintage release that coincides with an estate bang on form. Thanks to the never-ending improvements Luca has been introducing here, Roagna is an estate at the top of its game.

    In Luca’s own words, “the 2019s are elegant but with structure – they have an intense mid-palate and are bigger than the 2018s but are not heavier. They are intense but silky wines. In my view you can age the 2019s for as long as you like. It is one of the great vintages.” Sometimes, Luca likes to include a very small percentage of stalks during vinification, but none were required in 2019 – the wines naturally offering good structure and a nice balance of alcohol and acidity.

    It was the first year in which they employed their Pellenc de-stalker, which feels like it must have helped with the definition and clarity of expression in the wines – due to the machine keeping the whole berries perfectly intact during the process. Alcohols were very reasonable by Piedmont standards, ranging between 13.6 –14.3%, complemented by good balancing levels of acidity. The vintage’s only minor drawback is that it produced a little less wine than in 2018.

    Across his 15-hectare estate, split equally between Barbaresco and Barolo, Luca continues his low-intervention, minimal impact approach in the vines and the cantina. Key features of how he works in the vineyard include eschewing green harvest to better attain perfect physiological (not sugar) ripeness; and grassing-over to protect the soils. This latter technique not only sequesters carbon in the process but crucially reduces the vigor and amount of less stable malic acid in the final wines; one of the reasons Luca’s wines are typically so bright and energetic.

    In the cellar, Luca continues to fine-tune and enhance the freshness of the wines by reducing the amount of time in wood and extending the length of maturation, sur lie, in cement vats. Even to a bona fide fan of the estate such as me, the results are simply staggering – these are wines that offer incredible detail and vineyard expression.

    The warmth of the year is subtly sign-posted by a gentle glow to the fruit, which is bolstered by a crisp, binding, but beautifully integrated structure. These are wines of pure pleasure, but also wines for the cellar.

    Specifications

    Country:
    Italy
    Region:
    Piedmont
    Appellation:
    Langhe
    Producer:
    Roagna
    Grape Variety:
    Blend
    abv:
    12%

    allergen information

    This product may contain sulphites. Full allergen information is available upon request, please call our Customer Relations Team on +44 (0)20 7484 6430.