The wines of Lorenzo Alutto, Ca Du Rabaja'

While tasting the Bressan line up with Paolo Bernardi he directed me over to Lorenzo Alutto where he recommended tasting the fairly new to the scene but traditional Ca Du Rabaja' Barbaresco's.  The first vintage was in 2005 and was the idea of Lorenzo Alutto's Father Giovanni. For decades their fruit was used in the Produttori del Barbaresco Rabaja blend but Giovanni wanted to make his own wine expressing the fine terroir. Giovanni passed away in 2004 and the winery is now in the hands of Lorenzo.  The winery was named after Lorenzo's grandfather of the same name, which is very common in Piedmont.  Lorenzo was energetic and very excited to talk about traditional Nebbiolo.

Renzo Alutto at Ca' du Rabajà. (Photo: Polaner Selections.)

The 2008 and 2009 Barbaresco Rabaja' we tasted were quite different.  In 2008 the harvest ended on the 20th of October while the warmer 2009 harvest ended almost 3 weeks earlier at the end of September.  He explained the 2008 Rabaja' as being ''pieno di liquirizia, quasi un Barolo''.

No doubt these wines will need some years to see their full potential but they are already exciting.  And with Dante Scaglione (winemaker from Bruno Giacosa) as the wine consultant you cant help but to get excited yourself to see what will come of these Rabaja' wines.

Tasting some tank samples of the 2011's with Lorenzo Alutto.