Winemaker Notes
This Barolo comes from the best plots of seven crus. The diversity of soil, exposure and altitude characterizes each of these small but very important terroir. Unifying these diversities, the Barolo offers harmony and complexity with an overall character of the zone.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A beautiful Barolo here with a touch of dried spices to the grapefruit citrus, minerals, camphor and dried flowers. Melted, chalky tannins on the palate with medium to full body and a long, mineral-driven finish. Lots of clarity and finesse here.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The Paolo Scavino 2020 Barolo (with Enrico Scavino’s signature on the front of the bottle) has a handful of savory herbs, barbecue rub, ripe plum, sweet cherry and dried currant. There are notes of aniseed, but otherwise, the wine is quite broad-brushed, thick or husky on the mid-palate. It ends with balanced freshness. The blend borrows fruit from Rocche Moriondino, Vignolo, Pernanno, Terlo, Albarella, Vignane, San Bernardo, Cerretta and Bussia Vigna Fantini.
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Wine Enthusiast
A truly inspiring Barolo! Opening with aromas of macerated Bing cherries kissed with clove and anise that then evolves into notes of wild herbs and earth. The elegant palate is open and giving with ample fruit at its center while retaining more of its soul for a few years in the cellar.
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Wine Spectator
Youthful deep ruby in color, the 2020 Barolo is ripe and spicy with aromas of dried cherries, red berries, peppercorn, alpine herbs, and pressed flowers. Medium-bodied, it’s elegant and polished, with silky tannins, ripe fruit, clean lift, and a clean finish. Elegant all the way through, it handles its sunny feel with ease. It’s approachable for enjoying now or over the coming 8-10 years.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Tasted alongside the 2021, the 2020 Barolo pours a deeper ruby color and is inviting on the nose with ripe aromas of black raspberries, licorice candy, pressed flowers, and menthol. It has broader shoulders by comparison and expands on the palate with ripe tannins and a more grounded and savory finish with a more robust structure.
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.