Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2021 Barolo Ravera has a jeweled ruby hue and is gorgeous and pure on the nose, with aromas of raspberry liqueur, sweet tea leaf, pressed flowers, and fresh sage. It’s elegant and refined on the palate, with a seamless and even feel, silky, ripe tannins, refreshing acidity, and a long, graceful finish. It’s a fabulous wine to taste now but offers a wide window for enjoyment over the coming 20 or so years.
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James Suckling
You feel the dark fruit intensity of Novello in the Paolo Scavino 2021 Barolo Ravera. This is a very fine and well-constructed wine with layers of ripe cherry, iris root, crushed stone and licorice. The tannins are powdery, but the wine's structure remains firm and intact. Ravera promises a long life but remains attractive and accessible in the medium term, should you choose to uncork this bottle sooner.
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Wine Spectator
Rich and saturated with cherry, plum, earth, tar and iron flavors, this red is muscular and bursting with energy. Tightens up on the finish, yet there's plenty of fruit and complexity, with great balance and a lingering aftertaste. Best from 2030 through 2050.
Responsible for some of the most elegant and age-worthy wines in the world, Nebbiolo, named for the ubiquitous autumnal fog (called nebbia in Italian), is the star variety of northern Italy’s Piedmont region. Grown throughout the area, as well as in the neighboring Valle d’Aosta and Valtellina, it reaches its highest potential in the Piedmontese villages of Barolo, Barbaresco and Roero. Outside of Italy, growers are still very much in the experimentation stage but some success has been achieved in parts of California. Somm Secret—If you’re new to Nebbiolo, start with a charming, wallet-friendly, early-drinking Langhe Nebbiolo or Nebbiolo d'Alba.
The center of the production of the world’s most exclusive and age-worthy red wines made from Nebbiolo, the Barolo wine region includes five core townships: La Morra, Monforte d’Alba, Serralunga d’Alba, Castiglione Falletto and the Barolo village itself, as well as a few outlying villages. The landscape of Barolo, characterized by prominent and castle-topped hills, is full of history and romance centered on the Nebbiolo grape. Its wines, with the signature “tar and roses” aromas, have a deceptively light garnet color but full presence on the palate and plenty of tannins and acidity. In a well-made Barolo wine, one can expect to find complexity and good evolution with notes of, for example, strawberry, cherry, plum, leather, truffle, anise, fresh and dried herbs, tobacco and violets.
There are two predominant soil types here, which distinguish Barolo from the lesser surrounding areas. Compact and fertile Tortonian sandy marls define the vineyards farthest west and at higher elevations. Typically the Barolo wines coming from this side, from La Morra and Barolo, can be approachable relatively early on in their evolution and represent the “feminine” side of Barolo, often closer in style to Barbaresco with elegant perfume and fresh fruit.
On the eastern side of the Barolo wine region, Helvetian soils of compressed sandstone and chalks are less fertile, producing wines with intense body, power and structured tannins. This more “masculine” style comes from Monforte d’Alba and Serralunga d’Alba. The township of Castiglione Falletto covers a spine with both soil types.
The best Barolo wines need 10-15 years before they are ready to drink, and can further age for several decades.