Asili is a historic single vineyard in Barbaresco. In 1961, Giovanni Roagna acquired this parcel. The Vecchie Viti is an extremely limited wine, with only about a thousand bottles produced each year, as it is made exclusively from grapes of the oldest vines, around 90 years old. In all Roagna wines, whole clusters, including stems, are fermented – this contributes to freshness and a lower alcohol content in the mouth, and to aroma in the nose. Due to the old age of the vines, the stems impart a particularly ripe and fragrant character to Asili, which is why the stem content is higher than in Luca’s other wines, at about nine percent. The wine is aged for over five years in large Garbelotto wooden casks. At Garbellotto, the wood is aged for at least ten years before being made into wine barrels, which makes it gentle and free of any bitter aromas. Luca, however, uses new oak barrels only for his white wines. For the reds, the extremely slow exchange of wine with oxygen is key. The barrels are 10 cm thick, more than four times thicker than a barrique, which results in an extremely slow and gentle oxidation. The nose of this Vecchie Viti is so fascinating, so fragrant! An absolute dream in the glass… delicate herbal aromas transition into earthy scents of autumn forest and freshly plowedsoil. Beneath this, there is the juicy, dense strawberry nose that is so typical of Asili. Pure Gariguette strawberry! On the palate, it is juicy, yet very salty, chalky, and floral. The spicy-herbal notes of the stems are also present. This is a wine that builds slowly yet surely to a fantastic greatness despite its finesse and fresh precision, much like a great Burgundy does. It lingers for minutes and never seems to end. This is a great Barbaresco that makes me dream. Give it a few more years in the cellar, as it will undoubtedly increase in complexity.