Wine Advisor
G.D. Vajra, Barolo Bricco delle Viole 2022
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
The 2022 Barolo Bricco delle Viole is impenetrable today. Dried cherry fruit, mint, chalk, dried herbs and white pepper lend notable salivating energy. The 2022 feels compact and unyielding, both within the context of this wine (which is always more about linear intensity than size) and the year. Perhaps time will be of some help in softening the contours.
Reviewed by: Monica Larner
The G.D. Vajra 2022 Barolo Bricco delle Viole is a wine I always look forward to tasting for its graceful, often translucent presentation. In this warmer vintage, it shows added richness and concentration while remaining true to its floral character. Rose and violet lead the bouquet, followed by tar, crushed stone and sweet cherry. Bricco delle Viole is one of the highest vineyard sites in Barolo, where cooler air currents and significant diurnal shifts help preserve aromatic lift and finesse even in hot years. A lingering sweetness carries through the mouthfeel, where the wine offers silky, more-resolved tannins.
About the Producer
GD Vajra was born out of a revolutionary spirit. In 1968, 15-year-old Aldo Vaira was evicted to his estate in Barolo after becoming involved in political protests. Aldo's youthful energy soon turned to agriculture, and within a few years he had taken over the family estate. GD Vajra exemplified this revolutionary spirit when it became the first winery in the Barolo region to adopt organic farming in 1971. In addition, they were the first to plant Riesling in 1985. Vajra is the champion of some of Piedmont's less popular native grape varieties, including Dolcetto, Barbera and Freisa. They also make three single-vineyard Barolo wines, including the incredible Bricco delle Viole vineyard, which at 1,500 feet is one of the highest in the commune of Barolo. Today Aldo, his wife Milena and his children Giuseppe, Francesca and Isidoro still run the estate on organic principles. The soils here are sedimentary and most of the vineyards are in what I like to call the Tortonian valley which is actually the valley between the Bricco delle Viole area and the Barolo area at the foot of the hill and then another part of the area The side valley is Castiglione Falletto.
