With fruit from above the village of Barolo, the G.D. Vajra 2018 Barolo Coste di Rose shows a large aromatic scope and ample substance. This vineyard is characterized by very high density Diano sandstone (typical of the area), which explains the wine’s bigger sensorial impact. Its texture is velvety and smooth, and the wine offers lots of purple and red fruits with soft earth and perfumed flower. The vintage is open knit and broad in scope, perhaps lacking some of the brilliant focus you get in the cooler years. This wine was first produced in 2015.

Linear and tightly wound, this opens with aromas of crushed mint, spice and forest floor. Full-bodied and firmly structured, the palate is still rather austere, offering crushed raspberry, ripe cherry, clove and tobacco set against a backbone of fine-grained tannins. Drink after 2028.

Intense and vibrant, displaying cherry, plum, earth, iron and tar flavors. The tannins are dense and assertive, yet this has energy and length, with all the components in the right place. Best from 2025 through 2043. 400 cases made.

Very clean red-berry fruit on the nose, together with citrus and cedar notes. Medium body with fine-grained tannins and a tight bead of fruit at the end. Sustainable.

The 2018 Barolo Coste di Rose is a delicate, understated Barolo that will need a bit of time to fully emerge. There's lovely purity to the fruit here, but also some angular contours that need to resolve. The 2018 is a mid-weight wine in the style of the vintage, and yet there is fine balance.