Giuseppe Cortese Rabajà Barbaresco

Barbaresco Rabajà DOCG bottle image

Wine Description

This wine is made entirely from Nebbiolo grapes grown in Barbaresco's prestigious Rabajà vineyard, located in the Langhe hills just to the south of Cortese’s winery. To achieve the perfect structural balance, the wine is aged for twenty-two months in seasoned Slavonian oak casks, then bottled and cellared for an additional thirteen months.

Piercarlo and Giuseppe Cortese
Giuseppe Cortese Vineyard and Estate
Giuseppe Cortese Wine Cellar
Giuseppe Cortese Barbera Grapes
Cortese Family
Giueseppe Cortese Cantina
Giueseppe Cortese Bed and Breakfast
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Acclaim
“The 2013 Barbaresco Rabajà Riserva is a dense, brooding wine endowed with serious depth and intensity. Graphite, smoke, cured meats, spice, leather and licorice give the Riserva its decidedly sombre, virile personality. Readers should be prepared to cellar the 2013 for at least a few years. Today, the 2013 is in an awkward stage where it is not young, but it is also not mature, and in periods like this, patience is key, as there is not much pleasure to be had. The 2013 won’t be released until at least Spring 2020, so there is plenty of time.”
— Vinous, Nov 2019
“A sleek, elegant style, with plenty of intensity to its floral, strawberry, currant, mineral and eucalyptus flavors. Still a little reticent on the finish, yet balanced and pure. The fruit becomes more prominent with air, so decant gently now or age a few more years.”
— Wine Spectator Insider, Oct 2020
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Vineyard & Production Info
Production area/appellation:
Barbaresco DOCG
Vineyard name
The Rabajà vineyard
Vineyard size
10 acres
Soil composition
Calcareous Clay-Loam
Training method
Guyot
Elevation:
900 feet
Vines/acre:
1,800
Yield/acre:
2.4 tons
Exposure:
Southern / Southwestern
Year vineyard planted:
1958-1978
Harvest time:
October
First vintage of this wine:
1971
Bottles produced of this wine:
17,000
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Winemaking & Aging
Maceration length:
20-25
Varietal composition:
100% Nebbiolo
Fermentation container:
Stainless steel tanks
Length of alcoholic fermentation:
10 days
Fermentation temperature:
84 °F
Maceration technique:
Pumpovers
Malolactic fermentation:
Yes
Type of aging container:
Barrels
Size of aging container:
17-26 hL
Type of oak:
Slavonian
Length of aging before bottling:
22 months
Age of Aging Container:
5-20 years
Length of bottle aging:
13 months
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Analytical Data
pH level:
3.4
Acidity:
7 g/L
Alcohol:
14 %
Dry extract:
33.7 g/L
Residual sugar:
0.4 g/L