2022 Cascina delle Rose, Barbaresco, Rio Sordo

Riccardo and Davide Sobrino have led Cascina delle Rose since 2017, and their attention to detail continues to define the estate’s work. 2022 was a solar vintage. Piedmont suffered through yet another drought, but producers with a watchful eye in the vineyard, combined with a recipe of cool soils and careful tannin management, created some remarkably balanced wines. Despite the challenging year, the best wines are elegant, floral, and precise. Organic since the 1980s, Riccardo and Davide have continued their mother’s pioneering work, relying on native yeasts and cool fermentations, favoring the gentle extraction of the cappello sommerso to build pure wines with a real sense of place. However, in the 2022 solar vintage, they adapted and chose to use délestage (rack and return) to avoid the harsh, chewy tannins produced by the submerged cap method in warm vintages. This pragmatic approach demonstrates their careful attention to detail, and the success of the ‘22 wines demonstrates they made the right choice. The wines were aged in Slavonian oak botti as always. There is a meter of topsoil above the limestone in the Rio Sordo cru, giving more vigor to the vines (planted in 1958), with western exposure.