Why it matters
The producer
Roagna farms fifteen planted hectares across three of Piemonte's most distinct Nebbiolo zones: Barbaresco, Barolo and the Colli Tortonesi. The core is the Pajè vineyard in the Barbaresco appellation, acquired by Giovanni and Maria Candida Roagna in 1953 and farmed by the family ever since. Alfredo Roagna and his son Luca now run the estate. Luca joined in 2001 as the fifth generation and gradually pulled the cellar toward longer skin contact, deeper extraction and more demanding ageing windows.
The estate is certified organic, and the soils across its holdings combine limestone, marl and sand. Biodiversity and massal selection, using cuttings taken from the estate's own oldest vines, are explicit commitments. The wines go to bottle unfined and unfiltered.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
Barbaresco and Barolo are the two major Nebbiolo appellations of the Langhe, the hilly country south of Alba in southern Piemonte. Both require one hundred percent Nebbiolo and long ageing in oak. Barbaresco sits northeast of Alba, around the commune of Barbaresco and several surrounding villages; Barolo lies to the southwest, centred on the town of La Morra and a constellation of communes that includes Castiglione Falletto. The appellations share the same grape and the same general commitment to tannic, age-worthy red wine, but their soils differ: Barbaresco's Tortonian marl and limestone tend to produce wines that open earlier and carry floral perfume alongside the iron grip of Nebbiolo's tannin; Barolo's mix of Tortonian and Helvetian soils, with more compact clay in parts, typically produces wines that need more time.
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In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
Roagna farms twenty hectares in total, fifteen planted to vines. The remainder is woodland. Certified organic farming covers all holdings. Vine material is managed through massal selection: cuttings taken from the oldest estate vines are used to replant, preserving the genetic diversity of each parcel rather than replacing old material with certified clones. Biodiversity, in the cover crops between rows and the woodland borders, is treated as part of the farming system.
The range divides by vine age. Cru wines come from vines between twenty-five and fifty years old. Vecchie Viti wines, carrying the VV suffix, come from vines over fifty years old: the Pira vineyard holds material from 1937, the oldest Nebbiolo on any Roagna site.
Wines to know
The range in view
Roagna's Barbaresco wines are the Pajè and Asili crus, each available in the standard cru version and the Vecchie Viti tier. Crichët Pajè, the estate's flagship Barbaresco, comes from the Pajè vineyard and is the wine the family has bottled under that name since 1978. The Asili VV, drawn from the tiny 0.22-hectare parcel Giovanni acquired in 1961, is among the most concentrated of the estate's bottlings: old vines, small yields, ninety-day maceration, and no addition of any kind before or after bottling.
The Barolo range centres on Pira, the Castiglione Falletto vineyard whose oldest parcels carry vines from 1937. The Barolo Pira and Barolo Pira VV follow the same age-tier logic as the Barbaresco wines. The VV material, from vines nearly ninety years old, shows darker colour and a denser mid-palate than the standard cru bottling, though both need several years of cellaring before the tannin loosens enough for the fruit to be readable.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
Barolo Pira is the right first bottle. It comes from the Castiglione Falletto vineyard the family has held since 1990, planted in significant part with Nebbiolo from 1937, and it carries the clearest statement of what Roagna's cellar method produces. The 2018 vintage shows tobacco, cedar, mint, dried flowers and chamomile on the nose, with a bright, linear and taut mid-palate. Vinous calls it ethereal and driven. The fruit is not open yet, but the acidity and concentration are already evident. Decant several hours ahead if opening young, or hold it for eight to ten years and let the tannin dissolve on its own.