For more than 80 years the Ceretto family has been making wine in Piedmont’s Langhe. The family is most well known for producing coveted single-vineyard estate grown Nebbiolo wines and high quality Arneis and Moscato. Their wine production covers seven separate estates, while an eighth (I Vignaiolo di Santo Stefano) is co-owned along with two other growers. The Cerettos were the first producers in Piedmont to use stainless steel for fermenting red wine and adopted other modern techniques, including temperature control for fermentation, reduced maceration times and new oak aging. When Ceretto produced its first Arneis, only 74 acres of this grape were planted in the region. Today there are more than 1,200 acres planted to Arneis. The Ceretto Arneis is considered the benchmark and one in every five bottles of Arneis produced in Piedmont bears the Blange label.
| Tasting notes |
| A reference point for classically made Barolo, this full-bodied, elegant wine presents notes of chocolate, violets, dried fruit and truffles and displays the characteristic tannic structure associated with Barolos that are built to age. |
| Review |
| Antonio Galloni, Robert Parker's Wine Advocate : The 100% new-oak aged 2001 Barolo Bricco Rocche was made from old vines yielding just 40 hectoliters per hectare. The nose is redolent of spices and menthol with notes of minerals and anise. On the palate it is very dense and long, although the wine remains dominated by the new oak and is tough to fully evaluate today. |
| Technical notes |
| Planted in 1978, Bricco Rocche is a 4.5 acre vineyard located in Castiglione Falletto. Composed of clay (59%), silt (20.5%) and sand (20.5%), the vineyard sits at an elevation of 1,023-1,115 feet and faces south.
The grapes were hand-picked, destemmed and fermented in stainless steel, temperature controlled tanks, followed by a maceration for 8-10 days. The wine was aged for 24-28 months in 300L French oak (50% new/50% 1 year old) and for 12 months in bottle before release.
Of the four single-vineyard wines produced at Bricco Roche, this is the flagship.
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