The Smartest Barolo Buy of the Year
In a region defined by tradition and prestige, Vajra delivers one of the most consistently excellent, accessibly priced Barolos year after year—and the 2021 vintage may be its finest edition yet.
Vajra’s wines have always been shaped by altitude, humility, and family. Their estate vineyards—most notably Bricco delle Viole, the highest cru in Barolo—sit between 380 and 480 meters above sea level, where cooler temperatures and multiple sun exposures (“Albe” means “sunrises”) gift their Nebbiolo with elegance, vibrancy, and aromatic lift. These are wines that prioritize nuance over power, and purity over flash. And nowhere is that more beautifully captured than in Albe.
Albe is not a second wine—it’s a different lens on Barolo. While the single-cru bottlings are site-specific, Albe blends multiple high-elevation parcels with various exposures, creating a Barolo of balance, energy, and remarkable depth. This 2021, aged 24 months in large Slavonian oak, opens with lifted red fruit, crushed roses, tobacco, orange peel, and balsamic spice. It’s vibrant, mineral, and defined by its fine, velvet-textured tannins—a wine that’s both immediately enjoyable and structured to evolve for 10+ years.
What makes Albe even more exceptional is its price-to-quality ratio, arguably the best in Barolo today. At a fraction of the cost of most top-tier wines from the region, it delivers real pedigree: hand-harvested fruit, organic farming since 1971, painstaking manual sorting, and long fermentations with no shortcuts. This is Barolo made the hard way—the right way—by a family who has worked this land since the 1800s.
In a year where many producers struggled, Vajra thrived. The 2021 vintage offered great natural acidity, beautiful tannin structure, and long macerations—a throwback to the old ways and the kind of conditions that will make this Albe a cellar sleeper.
Do you have a favorite pair of jeans or a favorite dress that you keep in your closet for all occasions? That's the equivalent of this wine. The G.D. Vajra 2021 Barolo Albe is an enormously versatile expression of Nebbiolo, with an affordable price, that offers more value for your money than most Barolos out there. The bouquet focuses on dark berry, pressed flower and crushed stone. It offers good sharpness over broad lines. The mouthfeel is medium-plus in texture and it closes with silky, accessible tannins. Fruit comes from three cru sites: Coste di Vergne, Fossati and La Volta.
95 Points, Rober Parker
