Once upon a time … That’s how many of our most beloved stories begin, so that’s how we begin this report on the wines of G.D. Vajra. These wines might be best understood in the context of the stories about them. And the stories have surely helped us understand and appreciate what we found in our wine glasses.

So … once upon a time Sue and I were invited to take part in a Zoom interview with Giuseppe Vaira, the second-generation family winemaker of G.D. Vajra. It was a great pleasure to spend an hour (even a web hour) with him.  If you ask him a question, he will tell you a story (once upon a time …) using metaphors to communicate both facts and feelings. I think you can get a sense of what I am talking about from this video. 

Every Glass Tells a Story

Mr. Vaira is such an engaging person that it would be difficult not to like his wines, but the memory of his stories certainly added to the experience. Here are three brief examples to show you what I mean.

Barolo is famous for Barolo, of course. That’s what they make and export around the world. But what do Barolo winemakers like to drink, Mr. Vaira asked. Dolcetto! Not, he made certain to add, because they are cheap (it would be difficult to get as much for a Dolcetto as for a Barolo), but because it can make such an appealing wine.

Dolcetto was once widely planted (and enjoyed), but it lost out to Nebbiolo when the region was replanted after Phyloxxera. G.D. Vajra began making a very special Dolcetto Costa&Fossati in 1979 and it shows what Dolcetto can be. Complex, elegant, great with food. Who would not want to drink a wine like this?  Mr. Vaira’s story made us pull the cork and now we can’t think of Dolcetto the same way.

The Sun? Or the Moon?

The second story is about Freisa, an ancient Piemonte grape variety that you rarely see anymore. Freisa was once very common in the region, we learned and used it to make the base wine for Vermouth. But then came Prohibition in the United States and the bottom dropped out of the Vermouth export market. Most Freisa vines were pulled out so only a little is left.  Many different styles of wine are made from Freisa today, so it would be easy for consumers to get confused. What is Freisa? Well, it depends.

G.D. Vajra’s Freisa “Kyè” plays on this theme. Look at the label. Is it the sun? Or the moon? Hard to pin down. As you might imagine, our minds were racing as we tasted this wine. I imagined that I could sense the Vermouth connection, but that might be the power of suggestion. A unique experience, more moon than sun for me, but maybe it was the residual effect of that solar eclipse a few weeks ago?

At one point Mr. Vaira suggested that we taste the 2020 Barolo wines over a couple of days to appreciate how they evolve. We took it as an opening to sample two different wines, half on one might and half on the next so that we could both compare the terroirs and experience the evolution. You’d do the same thing, wouldn’t you?

Turn It Up to Eleven?

Inevitably each wine came with an image or story to provoke our imaginations. The Coste di Rose comes from a small steep vineyard at the top of a hill. Reaching to the top, the notes tell me, that you are confronted with a tall sandstone dune, a dramatic sight that makes this vineyard’s unique soil profile clear. A wine with emotion, according to the tasting note, with tones of cherry and rose petals, mint, and sweet spices.

I selected the Ravera Barolo to complement the Bricco delle Viole partly because of the difference in terroir but, I admit, mainly because of a note I found where Giuseppe Vaira says, “I am intrigued by Ravera’s indomitable personality. It is crisp like the sound of a Telecaster, straight and electric.” How can you not taste a wine that evokes the iconic Fender guitar that has featured on so many rock hits?

The experiment was quite an experience. The two wines were indeed quite different from each other, showing the influence of terroir, and the second night tasting added more depth and richness. It reminded me of my friend Brian’s advice to always double-decant Barolo wines. These wines have years of development ahead of them, so it will be interesting to revisit them and see how their stories and personalities have evolved.

An Unexpected Favorite

Of all the G.D. Vajra wines we have tasted so far, Sue and I think the humble Dolcetto is our favorite, which is a surprise. But this isn’t just any Dolcetto because great effort was made to select the best heritage clone vines and to plant them in just the right place (a vineyard plot that would have made great Barolo) to tell the story of this historic wine in the most expressive way.

It doesn’t make economic sense to make a Dolcetto like this, but sometimes there are more important things to consider. It is all about the story at G.D. Vajra. I think that’s why their wines are so appealing.

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An article that begins with “once upon a time” and ends with electric guitars needs a theme soung. Here it is. Enjoy. (It’s a Stratocaster not a Telecaster, but you get the idea!)