2018 | Giuseppe Cortese | Rabaja

Ripe cherry and strawberry fruit marks this light-bodied red. Picks up notes of earth, tar and white pepper, leaving a tangy feel on the lingering aftertaste.

Reviews:

• Wine Advocate: Giuseppe Cortese's 2018 Barbaresco Rabajà is fresh and vibrant with a tonic, almost electric personality. The wine shows the kind of freshness you get from mineral-rich soils that translate to both the bouquet and the palate. There are points of sour cherry and bramble with rusty nail and some tart orange zest. This release of 17,000 bottles is probably the most successful wine from this estate that I have reviewed over the years.

• James Suckling: Already exuding complexity on the nose. The red fruit is colored with a variety of nuances, from dry earth and mild spice to flower petals and light citrus notes. Medium-bodied with well-integrated tannins that sink into the fruit mid palate but re-emerge right at the end to give a firm finish. Despite that, the fruit drive is relentless. Needs time to even out. It will gain more breadth, too. Exceptional Barbaresco that highlights the excellence of the terroir here.

Producer Information

Giuseppe Cortese is an Italian wine producer based in the Barbaresco wine-producing area of Piedmont. The estate specializes in Barbaresco DOCG wines made from the region's most famous grape variety – Nebbiolo. The Cortese family has been producing wine in Barbaresco for generations, but it was Giuseppe Cortese who established the family's winemaking business in the 1960s. The estate released its first Barbaresco vintage from its vineyards in the Rabajà area in 1971. Production was subsequently expanded with the purchase of vineyards in Trifolera, allowing the estate to widen its portfolio with the addition of Dolcetto d'Alba, Barbera d'Alba and Chardonnay wines. The estate's original Rabajà vineyard extends over south-facing slopes with calcareous soils. The majority of the vineyard is dedicated to Nebbiolo and is the source of the estate's Barbaresco Riserva Rabajà, Barbaresco Rabajà and Langhe Nebbiolo wines. The flagship of the Giuseppe Cortese portfolio is the Riserva Rabajà wine, only produced in the best vintage years. It is created using grapes harvested from the oldest vines in the estate vineyard (averaging at around 60 years old). The wine sees approximately 40 months in Slavonian oak barrels before spending another three years maturing in bottle.

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