Wine of the week: an unusual, sensual creature

published 12 June 2020

2017 Barbaresco, Bruno Rocca, Piemonte, Italy

£289 for a case of six bottles (£48.17 each), thefinewinecompany.co.uk

I recently published my 2020 Piemonte Report, which features nearly 1,400 tasting notes from the best 121 wineries, including more than 100 write-ups from the much-vaunted 2016 vintage. I also hosted a one-hour webinar for elite wine club 67 Pall Mall, to spread the word about my report, but also to give viewers an overview of this historic region. If you would like to watch it, it is free to view in the “previous events” section of 67pallmall.com. One of the wines in the line-up was the 2016 vintage of my featured wine and it got a lot of praise from viewers and tasters. You can track it down at qwines.co.uk and hedonism.co.uk.

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It will be a long-lived beauty, so if you would like to taste a more forward-drinking wine from this epic estate then look to the sensational 2017. There was no Rabajà or Currà, the grands crus from Rocca, made in 2017, and so what was left of these two vineyards after devastating hail in April was included in this stupendous estate wine. This is a luxuriously appointed Barbaresco with hedonistic edges that gently tease the palate. The perfume is fascinating, with floral tones that are augmented in the red-fruit core. This is a real treat for fans of this estate because it is an unusual creature and the addition of the two single-vineyard wine has not made it a more backward creation, but a more sensually layered one.

Matthew Jukes is a winner of the International Wine & Spirit Competition’s Communicator of the Year (matthewjukes.com)

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Matthew Jukes has worked in the UK wine business for well over three decades and during this time has written 14 wine books.

Matthew regularly lectures, judges, speaks at wine conferences and runs masterclass tastings for both corporate and private clients all over the world. Matthew is also the creator of his ground-breaking initiative, the One Day Wine School, an indulgent day of tasting and learning first performed in 2006.

He has been the MoneyWeek wine correspondent since 2006 and has written a weekly column for the Daily Mail’s Weekend Magazine since 1999. His four highly-acclaimed, annual wine reports – the Burgundy En Primeur Report, the Bordeaux En Primeur Report, the Piemonte Report and the 100 Best Australian Wines – are published on his website, www.matthewjukes.com.

Matthew is one of the world’s leading experts on Australian wine and, with Brisbane-based wine writer Tyson Stelzer, runs an annual competition in Australia to find ‘The Great Australian Red’. He was made Honorary Australian of the Year in the UK at the 2012 Australia Day Foundation Gala dinner.

Matthew is a winner of the International Wine and Spirit Competition's Communicator of the Year Trophy. His thoughts, recommendations and tastings notes are followed very closely by the wine world at large.