About this wine
Vineyard and terroir
Pajé is a historic Barbaresco vineyard owned by the Roagna family since 1953. Its name derives from the Piedmontese dialect and was historically used for the area’s different vineyards. The site occupies a natural amphitheatre in the middle of the municipality, open toward the Tanaro valley and sheltered from wind by the surrounding hills. Its average altitude is 230 m above sea level, with southern and south-westerly exposures.
The soil is calcareous marl with a high proportion of active limestone. Pajé has the highest limestone concentration among the family’s historic vineyards. Its soils formed through marine sedimentation during the Tertiary period, approximately 70 million years ago.
Grapes
Nebbiolo. The Pajé vineyard contains 1.83 ha of Nebbiolo, while Dolcetto occupies its lower section. The vineyard’s average vine age exceeds 50 years.
Vinification
The vineyard is picked by hand into small crates when physiological maturity is reached, judged through the ripeness of the seeds. The fruit undergoes two manual selections before vinification. Fermentation lasts about ten days in wooden vats, initiated with a pied de cuve of indigenous yeasts. Traditional submerged-cap maceration follows for approximately 60–70 days.
Ageing
The wine matures for approximately five years in neutral oak and concrete vats.
Technical data
Production is limited to fewer than 7,000 bottles in each vintage.
Tasting profile
The vineyard’s substantial active-limestone component gives the wine pronounced structure and exceptional capacity for ageing.
Vintage notes
Published vintages are 1971, 1974, 1978 and a sequence of releases between 1995 and 2019, with no 2002 or 2006 listed.