Fresh, inviting, and completely pure with lots of dark red fruit in flavor and aroma, along with leather, red cherries, spices, cedar, and tobacco. Deep, intense, and in complete balance. The finish is wonderfully long with hints of white pepper, chalk, and salt.
Aged for 42 months in large oak barrels.
96 POINTS
Vinous
The 2020 Barolo Baudana is absolutely captivating. Exuberant and bright in the glass, with plenty of freshness and remarkable fruit purity, the Baudana offers generous dark red fruits, spices, leather, cherry, candy, cedar, tobacco, and underbrush. It has tremendous depth and exceptional balance. Rose petals, white pepper, and chalk add to the intense, saline finish.
95 POINTS
Luca Gardini
The most classic of all house brands, a wine with complexity and finesse. Notes of red plums on the nose, then mentholated notes of eucalyptus, juniper, and fresh bay leaves. Juicy-sweet mouthfeel, with a menthol-fruity finish and a long finish capped off by notes of medicinal herbs.
94 POINTS
Robert Parker
The 2020 Barolo Baudana offers good power and ripeness with sweet fruit flavors, dark cherry, spice, and ferrous earth. These aromas are characteristic of this site in Serralunga d’Alba. The wine is silky and generous on the palate, with salty minerality on the close.
94 POINTS
Decanter
Fermented and aged in large oak barrels, the Baudana shows great complexity and delicacy of liquorice root, smoky forest, rose, and violet aromas, with wild strawberry and peony depth. The palate is firm and acidic, with structured but fine-grained tannins. It has the dustiness typical of Nebbiolo and is super-tart but fierce in character, with a hint of youthful rusticity on the finish. I would age it given its old-fashioned character.
93 POINTS
Wine Spectator
Aromas of cherries, raspberry liqueur, mint, and minerals accent this tight, dense red wine, which is balanced and has notes of eucalyptus and juniper on the long finish.
92 POINTS
James Suckling
Notes of ground spices, nutshells, and cedar with subtle red fruit flavors in the background. Medium-bodied, structured, and firm. Powerful and slightly tart on the finish.
About G.D. Vajra
G.D. Vajra is actually a relatively new winery for the region—and probably the first in Piemonte to work with organic viticulture. It is beautifully situated, surrounded by the Alps at a relatively high altitude near the town of Barolo. Here, the grapes grow slowly and carefully, imparting very fine, fruity notes to the wines. The last kilometers by car towards the Vajra family’s vineyard are pure enjoyment for the eyes and anticipation. The winding, narrow roads from the town of Barolo up into the soft mountains pass right by G.D. Vajra’s best vineyard just before reaching the estate. Here, strong vines grow that year after year produce perfected Barolo wines. However, it is only when the car is parked in the dusty courtyard and Giuseppe Vajra, or one of the other family members, steps forward at the door that the soul of the place truly reveals itself. For reunions in this family-owned wine dynasty are akin to a hug.
Life is Beautiful
Barolo wine is surrounded by style and class. Although one may not necessarily know much about wine, they probably know the word “Barolo” and may even associate it with expensive but delicious wine, enjoyed by serious wine drinkers. However, Vajra’s approach is a bit different. The wine should evoke joy and be for everyone under the slogan “Life is beautiful.” This can be seen on the labels, which are not serious and solemn-looking but rather lively and colorful. These are wines meant to be drunk on an average Tuesday evening, not wines one has to save up for and drink once a year. Therefore, Vajra has not raised prices despite the fact that Italians have won several awards for their Barolo wines.
Wine is Terroir
Since the 1970s, interest in Single Vineyard wines has grown enormously. But Albe Barolo is a blend. “Albe” means “the sun rises,” and the wine should be understood as an expression of the area more than a single vineyard. The love for the area is immense—and it shows. The soil is old seabed rich in fossils and limestone with a small portion of sand. This gives the wines an unmistakably fresh expression and a certain acid-based backbone, more than tannins, which one typically finds in other Barolo wines. It is important to remember when choosing your Barolo.
Burgundy in Italy
The wines can best be recognized by their slightly cool and elegant style, due to a large part of the vineyards being situated at an altitude of 400 meters. They are wines with a mineral character that many appreciate. Some of the wines may even have a hint of Burgundy about them with their light, elegant, fruity style centered around red berries. At the same time, they are authentic Barolo, which many of us love. G.D. Vajra’s vineyard is located in Vergne, the highest village in the western Barolo area, just three kilometers from the center of Barolo. It was founded in 1972 and named after Giuseppe Domenico, the father of the current owner, Aldo Vajra. Since taking over the daily management of the vineyard, Aldo has gradually increased the vineyard area to today 40 hectares, of which 10 are planted with Nebbiolo and located on vineyards such as Bricco delle Viole, Fossati, La Volta, and Coste di Vergne. Despite its elegant and cool style, Vajra should be considered a traditionalist for the area—with some modifications, as Aldo Vajra temperature-controls his fermentation and uses a very limited proportion of barriques (typically 5-8%).
Here, Nebbiolo, Dolcetto, Barbera, Freisa, and Riesling grow. G.D. Vajra stands for Giuseppe Domenico, Aldo Vajra’s father, who signed the founding documents for the vineyard in 1972 when Aldo himself was still a minor. His wife, Milena, joined the business in the 1980s, and together they managed to bring the originally small enterprise to world fame for the production of Barolo. The wines are traditionally characterized by a longer maceration and are predominantly aged in Slovenian barrels. Vajra’s red wines are made with quite a long skin contact. An ancient technique is used, where the grape skins are pressed down like in a giant French press, resulting in a “submerged cap.” This actually helps explain the wines’ slightly light color, although it sounds strange and very counterintuitive to those who know a bit about wine production. But this is because some of the color compounds are simply reabsorbed in the grape skins. This also results in more stable, pure wines with great aging potential.
