Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2022 Barolo Gavarini Chiniera pours a uniform ruby color and offers wonderful clarity and refinement, with aromas of black raspberries, anise, cracked pepper, and citrus peel emerging from the glass. Medium-bodied yet beautifully layered, it fills the palate with ripe, refined tannins and refreshing acidity that carries into a long, floating finish. Compared with the Ginestra, this wine shows more tension and citrus-toned lift.
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Decanter
Compliments to Gianluca Grasso for his dynamic Barolo duo in 2022. They are of equal merit, and while the Casa Maté may possess a bit more density and power, I love the elegance and salivating character that the Gavarini Chiniera exudes. It opens with essences of rose and lavender, followed by nutmeg and damp forest floor. An intense mouthful of dark red berry and grenadine bursts with purity, while tannins add subtle drama without taking over. Underlying tangy acidity stimulates the appetite, and this will give a load of satisfaction over its drinking arch.
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James Suckling
A spicy wine with aromas of licorice, graphite, vanilla, lush red cherries and blood oranges. Full-bodied, velvety, slightly dusty and refreshing, with stunning savoriness. A bit bold but balanced. Drinkable now, but best from 2027.
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Vinous
The 2022 Barolo Gavarini Chiniera is soft, layered and quite expressive. Macerated cherry, cinnamon, mocha, blood orange and rose petal all meld together in the glass. Readers will find a Barolo of density and volume. The Gavarini signatures are present, most notably the wine's brilliant energy, but in a smaller-scaled package that is quite appealing.
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.