Bruno Giacosa
Rabaja
Barbaresco
2015

The producer

Bruno Giacosa was a visionary who helped place the Langhe on the world wine map. Originally a grape trader (negociant) sourcing grapes for other large producers, before starting to make his own wines, he gained great knowledge of the vineyards across Barolo and Barbaresco – which without doubt guided his purchase of top vineyards in the region – Barbaresco Asili, Barbaresco Santo Stefano, and Barolo Le Rocche del Falletto. In the mid 1960s, Bruno Giacosa was amongst the first producers (along with Angelo Gaja and Beppe Colla) to make single vineyard bottlings of Barolo and Barbaresco.

The wines are made in a traditional style with as little intervention as possible, from fermenting only with wild yeast to ageing of the wines in large untoasted casks, which impart no flavour onto the wines. The wine range is divided in wines labelled ‘Casa Vinicola Bruno Giacosa’ which are made from purchased fruit, and wines labelled ‘Azienda Agricola di Bruno Giacosa’ which are made exclusively with estate owned grapes. Riserva bottlings are distinguished with red labels, and are made only in the best years and age for longer before being released onto the market.

The wine

Giacosa’s Rabaja bottling comes from a 0.6-hectare plot in the eponymous vineyard. Soils are rich in calcareous clay and the vineyard has southwest exposure at an altitude of 400 metres. Fermentation and maceration take place in stainless steel tanks and is followed by around 20 months ageing in French oak barrels. A linear and delicate wine yet with immense fruit concentration, power, and a long chiselled length. This is Nebbiolo at its best.

We choose our wines based on a range of criteria (see how we choose our wines) of which critic scores is just one. Rather than simply highlight the best score to promote a wine, our average critic score is calculated from the scores provided by several respected wine critics, who we follow for specific regions. They do not represent all critic scores and, wherever possible, we try and give more weight to more recent reviews. Where appropriate we consider market-based scores like Global Wine Score or Wine Searcher Average scores.

As a rule, we look to offer wines that achieve a 92/100 average critic score or better and frankly a lot of very good wines simply don’t make the cut. As a high-end provider we want to reflect that positioning in the quality of wines we offer. Such wines are only a tiny fraction of those generally on offer in the market. We believe that an average score is a more conservative and representative approach, but it is still subjective and only offered as a guide to our customers, who will (and should) do their own research. We will add individual critic scores to our website in the future.