95pts Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

The 2018 Barolo Pajana shows a savory character with some delicate spice and smoke that is carefully folded into dark fruit, plum and earthy flower or iris root. Fruit comes from a site in the Ginestra MGA that was planted in 1971 with additional vines added in 1991. The wine shows excellent complexity and balanced intensity that is well-suited to long cellar aging.

94pts Jeb Dunnuck

The 2018 Barolo Ginestra Pajana is supple with red fruit and floral musky cologne of red plum, spicy minty herbs, and cedar. It is fine, elegant, and approachable in its tannin structure and offers clean notes of oak spice, vanilla bean, and dusty earth. It is fresh and charming but also has the complexity to be long-lasting. Drink 2023-2040.

94pts James Suckling

Rich, raspberry-coulis nose, adding mineral and bark aromas with air. But it all remains very contained. Medium-bodied palate with very fine, firm tannins and a tight finish. Super-clean with a very tight core for now. Give it time to expand. Try from 2024.

94pts Decanter

From vines planted in 1971 and 1990, Pajana is rich on the nose with pot pourri scents and a restrained mix of red cherry and blood orange. It's more approachable and less austere than usual but juicy, tasty and savoury - almost salty on the palate with intoxicating flavours of fruit and flower. Despite the graceful attack, the wine is then supported by a firm structure with slightly dusty tannins. Crisp acidity carries a camphor note to the persistent finish.

Winemaker Notes

The Pajana plot takes its name from the old road that runs along the top of the hill, an ancient pass that connected Monforte d'Alba and Serralunga, which is still accessible on foot today.

A plot in flourishing balance, with scrupulous attention to the vinification, to carry its exuberance in the glass: a certainty for the last 30 years.