2019 La Ca’ Növa, Barbaresco DOCG, Piedmonte, Italy.
This 2019 La Ca’ Növa Barbaresco is an easy to love pure Nebbiolo that delivers a lovely and rustically charming palate of bright red fruits, spice, mineral tones and dried flowers that all fold together nicely, drinking fabulously well in its youth with no harsh bite, but with a stylish structure and complexity. This ruby/brick colored Barbaresco has a pretty nose with wilted roses, a hint of sultry earth and subtle cedar notes with macerated cherry, damson plum, mulberry and vine picked berry fruits, as well as roasted herbs, chalky stones, anise and orange rind. This wine, for the money is a no brainer and should drink well for 5 to 10 years, showing off fruit dimension and plush textural presence in this warm and ripe vintage, I highly recommend looking for this label. La Ca’ Növa really got my attention with their 2016s, and this 2019, while more fruit forward, is an attractive Nebbiolo that is very easy on the wallet. The La Ca’ Növa Barbaresco was fermented with indigenous yeasts and everything is done by hand using open top barrels, as was done in older and simpler times. The maceration is interestingly done with a large wooden spoon used to stir the musts, which the winery notes, is very difficult and time consuming work, but it worth it, as it helps extract a much richer color as well as more polyphenols. Interesting too, the Roccas, who were growers, sold their grapes to others (including Gaja) until they began bottling under their own label, chose to age their Barbaresco in Austrian, rather than Slavonian oak. The wines here are transparent and crafted without much in the way of technology, usually employing open top vats and used wood for maturing the Nebbiolo bottlings.
La Ca’ Nova, is a little family winery set in a farmhouse from 19th century, in the center of Barbaresco, was founded in the ’70s, it is run by the Rocca brothers who split between themselves the different roles among vineyards, cellar and public relations. This estate, as mentioned in my prior reviews, winemaker Marco Rocca’s La Ca’ Növa winery is located just outside of the historic village of Barbaresco and produces traditional styled wines that way over deliver for the price, especially this basic Barbaresco and the famed Montestefano cru. Marco’s main passion is his Nebbiolo parcels and his trio of Barbaresco wines, but as the winery notes, Marco also does Dolcetto, Barbera, as well as a entry level Langhe Nebbiolo, which I will now search out, because if his Barbaresco DOCG and Cru Montestefano are this good and low priced, they must be fantastic values as well. The winery has prized holdings in the Montefico and Montestefano crus, as well as nice sites within the Barbaresco DOCG zone from which they make this set of Barbarescos, with this one, I believe, being a cuvée of the various sites, chosen after fermentation and then blended. La Ca’ Nova is a little family winery set in a farmhouse from 19th century, in the center of Barbaresco. Founded in the ’70s, it is run by the Rocca brothers who split between themselves the different roles among vineyards, cellar and public relations, with Marco as the winemaker. They have some prime vineyards, which are treated in full respect of the environment and of the natural vegetative cycle of the vines, with those Montefico and Montestefano crus being their joint signature wines and most coveted vines. This latest offering is one that I like to stock up on for more casual meals, it goes well with a range of cuisine choices, even though it is best with meaty dishes with proteins.
($40 Est.) 92 Points, grapelive