2017 G.D. Vajra Barolo Bricco delle Viole

Community Tasting Notes (19) Avg Score: 92.7 points

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  3/3/2024 - Reinbothe wrote: 91 Points

  Needs many years to reach peak. Potential is there, but price is too high. Much better value out there. Vajra has received much deserved praise, but now prices has increased more than it should

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  9/4/2023 - Robmcl920 Likes this wine: 92 Points

  The '17 BDV is a solid wine that I think is best left to age for another 5+ years. In this vintage, the BDV is denser and darker than in the better years and a bit less finessed in the tannins.
  
  On the nose, I found dark red berry and black fruits, purple and dark floral tones, some savory notes like balsamic and roasted meat, pine, and crushed rock. On the palate, the wine is medium to full bodied, very dense but not very expressive today, showing a mass of dark red to black fruits, dark sweet and savory spices, and tar, a dark and ungiving expression by the standards of this normally quite elegant wine. Towards the finish, there is a mass of drying tannin, nicely textured by the standards of this tough vintage but not as elegant as has become the norm at Vajra. Acidity is medium. This needs a minimum of a few years for the tannins to soften and hopefully for the fruit to open up a bit more. Today, it is promising but a bit of a brute (again, compared to the norm of this wine).
  
  Day 2 Update: On day 2, the '17 BDV showed better, which is promising for the future of this wine. I found the wine to show a bit of a lighter, brighter fruit profile on day 2 which is surprising. I found more of a red-fruited and red-floral expression than the darker fruits I found yesterday. The sweetness of the fruit on the palate was more clear, but the tannins remain fierce on the finish, suggesting a solid 5-10 years or more of time could be helpful for those tannins to soften.

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  7/4/2023 - dcwino wrote: 93 Points

  Expressive nose displaying intense slightly dried black fruit, blackberry, black cherry, a hint of dry cherry, fruitcake, tar, balsamico, ash, rose, lead pencil and crushed rocks. Excellent concentration, dense black fruit, rich and unctuous, bright acidity, strong iron mineral, strong coarse tannins and a long ripe black fruit driven finish with tar and crushed rocks at the end. This is a really structured Barolo. The style reminds me Conterno’s Cascina Francia a bit, i.e. dark fruit, balsamico and tar. This will need a couple of decades to reach the peak.

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  5/19/2023 - mzimberg Likes this wine: 96 Points

  France 44 Winery Series: GD Vajra (France 44): First nose all perfume. Then lavender, wildflowers, cherry juice. Oh my so much complexity and layers like a fractal. This is sparklingly long and an explosive palate. This is really, really excellent.

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  1/28/2023 - Thek Likes this wine: 92 Points

  nose of yellow and pink roses, some bing cherry, terragon, eucalyptus. Palate slightly ripe dark cherry, conifer forest bed, river rocks. Highly tannic with a coarse texture, medium plus acid.
  
  Hide this and forget about it for a while.

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