2001 Vajra Bricco delle Viole

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Cristian Dezso

Cristian Dezso
This is the third wine in my exploration of 2001s and it falls in between the Clerico Ginestra and Brovia Ca Mia, with a performance closer to Brovia.

The wine is bursting with fruit, I mean exploding, from the very moment you open the bottle. But not super-ripe or anything like that. Just beautiful, mentholated cherries and stones rained over. Very very nice. On the palate, the wine is very elegant on entry - I think I am getting now the polished Vajra style - but on the back end the tannins are a bit grainy and drying. Probably time will soften them up, but the wine is enjoyable now. All in all, a great experience, an elegant and highly enjoyable wine, that does not quite match the Brovia Ca Mia in harmony but clearly outshines the Clerico in terms of elegance and finesse.
 
I quite like Vajra - it seems to be one of the very few not obviously modern producers available here. Anyone tried the Kyè Freisa 2008 yet?
 
I am not sure, but looking back, the review for the 2007 vintage indeed says that the wine a french oak aroma and that it needs a few years to integrate it. Now word, though, about the age of the barrels.
 
Filippo, from the extremely limited examples of Piemonte that have been available here, Vajra hasn't seemed modern. So was I wrong in that? The '08 Kyè has been the only one I did find oak in; the '01 and '04 Viole didn't seem spoofy - if my memories are true (admittedly tasted when them when I was young and just getting into wine).
 
originally posted by Filippo Mattia Ginanni:
I am saying is not too difficult to be more elegant than Clerico.

As far as Vajra his wines are more talked than memorable, IMVHO.
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Yes correct on Clerico, I should have probably worded it as outshining the Clerico with - rather than in - its elegance.

As for Vajra, I am not sure how talked about they are, but indeed they are not consistently memorable. I have had the 1996, and all the vintages from 2001 to 2207, and I indeed found only the 2005 to be memorable. But memorable is probably a very high bar to meet year-in year-out, and probably few producers ever make memorable wines. By the way, out of curiosity, which ones are yours (from Piemonte)?
 
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