Giuseppe Cortese, Barbaresco Rabaja Mg 2008

Giuseppe Cortese Barbaresco Rabajà 2008 in magnum is a benchmark expression of classic Nebbiolo from one of Barbaresco’s most fabled crus. Drawn from the Cortese family’s historic holdings in Rabajà, this is a traditionally crafted, long-lived Barbaresco now entering a beautiful drinking window. The magnum format further enhances its aging potential, offering a wonderfully mature yet still vibrant example of old-school Piemonte elegance.

Tasting Notes
In the glass, the 2008 Rabajà shows a deep garnet core with brick and orange hues at the rim, a clear sign of graceful evolution. The color remains luminous and lively, particularly in magnum, with excellent clarity and finesse. The nose is complex and layered: dried roses and violets, tar, sweet tobacco and leather unfold alongside notes of sour cherry, dried raspberry and forest berries. With air, nuances of truffle, underbrush, cedar, anise and warm spice emerge, framed by a subtle balsamic lift. On the palate, this is a textbook mature Barbaresco—medium-bodied but intense, with fine, chalky tannins and a fresh, persistent acidity that carries the wine across the palate. Flavors of dried red cherry, smashed strawberries, orange peel and pomegranate mingle with savoury tones of leather, cured meat, licorice and earthy minerality. The finish is long, savoury and subtly smoky, with lingering notes of rose petal and spice. From magnum, the 2008 still has many years of life ahead, and while it is drinking beautifully now, it should continue to evolve gracefully for another 8–10 years or more under proper cellaring.

Production
Rabajà is one of Barbaresco’s most esteemed crus, a south-facing amphitheatre of calcareous marl and clay that delivers wines of structure, depth and precise aromatics. Giuseppe Cortese’s parcels lie on these sun-drenched slopes, where Nebbiolo ripens slowly, concentrating flavor yet retaining the hallmark freshness of the site. The Cortese family works their vineyards with a strong respect for tradition, favoring careful hand work in the vines and manual harvesting to ensure only perfectly ripe, healthy Nebbiolo clusters are selected at vintage time. In the cellar, the wine is vinified in a classic Piedmontese style: extended maceration to extract aromatics and structure, followed by a long maturation of around 40 months in large Slavonian oak casks. This gentle, oxidative élevage in grandi botti allows Nebbiolo’s perfume and the Rabajà terroir to shine, avoiding overt new oak influence. After cask aging, the wine spends an additional three years maturing in bottle before release, building the complexity and tertiary nuances that define great, traditionally made Barbaresco.

Food & Serving
This mature Barbaresco from magnum is a superb partner for rich, savory dishes: think braised veal cheek, ossobuco, roasted lamb, game birds, or slow-cooked beef with porcini mushrooms. Classic Piemontese plates—tajarin with white truffle, braised beef (brasato al Barolo), or aged mountain cheeses—will highlight the wine’s floral and earthy tones. Serve at 16–18°C (about 60–64°F); if coming from a cool cellar, allow the bottle to warm slightly in the glass. Given the wine’s age and natural sediment, gently stand the magnum upright several hours in advance and decant carefully 1–2 hours before serving. This will both protect the more fragile mature aromas and give the wine just enough air to fully open, while preserving its elegance and finesse.

Producer
The Cortese family has deep roots in Barbaresco, but it was Giuseppe Cortese who formalized the estate in the 1960s and set it on the path to becoming one of the appellation’s reference-point traditional producers. From their home vineyards in Rabajà—first bottled under the family name with the 1971 Barbaresco—the Cortese family helped to underscore the importance of single-cru bottlings in Barbaresco, at a time when such terroir focus was far from universal. Over the years, the estate expanded with carefully chosen parcels in Trifolera, allowing production of Dolcetto d’Alba, Barbera d’Alba and Chardonnay, while Rabajà remained the spiritual and qualitative heart of the property. Today, the flagship wines, especially the Barbaresco Rabajà and the limited Barbaresco Riserva Rabajà from 60-year-old vines, are widely respected for their fidelity to site, their classic, ageworthy style, and their role in preserving the traditional character of Barbaresco within the broader Piemonte landscape.

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