Winemaker Notes
Though it remains the most approachable of Cogno's Barolos, the Barolo Cascina Nuova 2021 reveals itself in a sublime and captivating way—perhaps more so than ever before. The nose is seductive, offering intense and sweet notes of ripe, juicy berries, pomegranate, sweet spices, and balsamic hints. On the palate, it displays a beautiful acid-savory interplay, with dense yet pleasant and refined tannins. Full and balanced, it shows remarkable persistence, with lingering aromas that echo the nose.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This Barolo shows lavender, dried cranberries, licorice and a touch of tile on the nose. The palate is medium- to full-bodied and balanced, with lovely, succulent fruit complemented by incisive acidity. The tannins are fine grained yet chewy, but they gradually resolve toward the bright finish. Better from 2026.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2021 Barolo Cascina Nuova is highly aromatic and expressive of anise, incense, blood orange, and cranberry. The palate is medium-bodied but with a well-defined, even feel as well as ripe tannins and ripe acidity. It offers exceptional aromatics and structure that are emblematic of the vintage, and it should only improve over the next two decades if stored in cool cellars. A mix of the two Nebbiolo clones (60% Lampia and 40% Michet), this was vinified with a long maceration and submerged cap for 40 days, followed by two years in barrels. Drink 2026-2046.
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Wine Spectator
Supple and detailed, featuring aromas and flavors of cherry, strawberry, plum, eucalyptus, iron and tobacco. This is all about finesse and balance, with a gentle line of malleable tannins on the lingering aftertaste.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
This wine sources its fruit from across three hectares on clay limestone soils. The Elvio Cogno 2021 Barolo Cascina Nuova is the most accessible wine in the family's portfolio, and indeed, the intensity threshold is a little lower in this case (especially compared to the Ravera), although you do get plenty of delicate Nebbiolo nuances. The bouquet offers dark fruit, blue flower and spice. This wine ages in large Slavonian oak casks for 24 months, so the primary fruit remains front and center. I suggest another year of bottle age to give the wine time to find better focus.
The Cogno family has been making wine for four generations in Piedmont. In 1990, Elvio Cogno left a long and fruitful partnership with the venerable Barolo producer Marcarini at La Morra and bought a splendid, historic 18th-century farmhouse on the top of Bricco Ravera, a hill near Novello in the Langhe area. (Novello is one of the 11 communes in which Barolo is produced.) The farm was surrounded by 11 hectares (27.18 acres) of steeply sloped vineyards. Elvio restored the manor, converted the old granaries to wine cellars and founded his eponymous winery. For the next 20 years he devoted himself to the winemaking traditions handed down to him by his father and grandfather.
Elvio, in turn, has now passed the torch to his daughter, Nadia, and her husband, Valter Fissore, who has worked beside Elvio for 25 years. Following in the footsteps of Elvio the maestro, Elvio Cogno winery continues to produce elegant wines without altering the traditions, styles and flavors of the Langhe, with its breathtaking quilted landscape and unique grape varieties.
The Elvio Cogno winery sits at the top of Bricco Ravera, a hill near Novello in the Langhe area of Piedmont, one of the 11 communes in which Barolo is produced. Ravera is the finest cru of Novello, encircling the top of the hill and the winery, reaching a 380-meter (1,246-foot) elevation, with breathtaking views in all directions.
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.