Winemaker Notes
Azelia Barolo Cerretta offers notes of black cherries, wild berries, and plums with menthol, sage and saline notes.
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
The 2020 harvest for Ceretta was finished quite late on 13 October. Notes of wild strawberry and cinnamon are accompanied by hints of wax, liquorice, balsamic and bloody nuances. Fierce acidity supports firm, velvety tannins with great extraction on the mid-palate and a stern yet long aftertaste. There is great potential for ageing here. Lorenzo Scavino and his father manage this family-owned winery, which celebrates its 100th vintage with the 2020 harvest. This Barolo Cerretta undergoes fermentation with indigenous yeasts and a long maceration of 40 days with submerged cap. The oak chosen for the botti grandi must be ‘thicker’ – meaning older with a finer grain.
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James Suckling
What an aromatic nose of blood orange, cocoa nibs, pine, wet earth and wild strawberries. It’s medium-bodied, firm yet elegant, with tight and fine-grained tannins. Excellent freshness and finesse, if a little tight on the palate for now. Try after 2027.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Azelia 2020 Barolo Cerretta is the most complete wine from vintner Luigi Scavino in this vintage. The fruit feels richer and more saturated, and you get greater textural heft on the palate (compared to some of the other wines in this portfolio that taste thin in comparison). I also enjoyed that touch of cherry sweetness that succeeds at fleshing out a longer finish.
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Wine Enthusiast
This classic Barolo showcases aromas of ripe cherries, plums, and a hint of dried roses. On the palate, fine, chewy tannins create a vertical structure, supporting the concentrated fruit flavors, while the finish, highlights more crushed chalk and salty minerality. Drink 2025 - 2045.
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Wine Spectator
With one foot in the savory camp, this Barolo evokes eucalyptus, juniper and broom notes, with cherry and plum details lurking in the background. An underlying mineral element gathers on the finish. Best from 2028 through 2046. 720 cases made, 240 cases imported.
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Vinous
The 2020 Barolo Cerretta is laced with the essence of black cherry, gravel, incense, dried herbs, licorice and espresso. It offers good depth and juiciness in the lighter style of the year.
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.
