A different, fuller-weighted brood, boasting ample stone fruits, nutmeg and truffle. Savvy use of oak (tonneaux and larger format French) and extended lees ageing. A vineyard purchased in 1976, situated directly behind the town's castle. Lower altitude, with clay and limestone (rather than the more pervasive volcanics), finding effortless confluence with a winemaking approach that has long-defined this fuller-weighted, late-harvested, highly textural expression. While an outlier stylistically, there is often a fleck of botrytis, all tamarind and dried mango, that melds with the underlying tension to impart generosity and evince authority. Drinkable now, but best from 2026.
95 points, Ned Goodwin, James Suckling (May 2023)
The 2021 Soave Classico La Rocca seduces, flaunting its rich bouquet of confectionary spice and sweet oak before coming further into focus with baked apple and chamomile notes. This is elegance personified, opulent at first and then decidedly savory and precise, with crisp orchard fruits flowing across a saline-tinged, acidic core. The 2021 finishes with dramatic length, staining the palate in youthful concentration as zesty citrus combines with dried apricot and peach. This is an especially decedent vintage for La Rocca, yet the balance is something to behold. It was refined for one year in a mix of 2000- and 500-liter Slavonian oak barrels.
93 points, Eric Guido, Vinous (Mar 2023)