Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Fragrant and full-bodied, this dazzling red opens with enticing scents of rose petal, blue flower, wild berry and a whiff of camphor. Elegantly structured, the polished, full-bodied palate delivers succulent morello cherry and raspberry compote, while licorice, tobacco and vanilla accents add depth. It’s impeccably balanced, with fresh acidity. Without a doubt this is one of the best 2014Barolos out there. Drink 2022–2034.
Cellar Selection -
Decanter
Scavino produced wines from most of their single vineyards in 2014, and this, from Castiglione Falletto, is the finest of them all. The raspberry-scented nose is ripe, juicy and packed with fruit, while the palate is full-bodied and rich, dense without being too extracted, exhibiting spice and energy. Fine acidity gives tension and drive, and the finish is long and peppery.
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James Suckling
This is smoky and decadent on the nose with some tar and cherry undertones. Full-bodied, round and chewy with intense tannins and a long, flavorful finish. Well done.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
This is one of my favorite single-vineyard 2014 Barolos from the Scavino family. Fruit for the 2014 Barolo Bric dël Fiasc is sourced from the Fiasco vineyard in Castiglione Falletto. You might guess this by the wine's trademarked fantasy name "Bric dël Fiasc." The family farms a large swath of the Fiasco vineyard, but this wine is made with fruit from a 2.5-hectare section at the center of the cru. It enjoys southeast exposures with both marl and sandy deposits. This complex mix of Tortonian and Helvetian soils makes for a tight, interwoven patchwork. This helps to develop both elegance and power, and you get both in generous supply with this wine. Enrico Scavino realized he had something special during fermentation, and the wine has continued to develop beautifully since then. It boasts finely textured tannins that contribute to the overall structure and firmness. This is an age-worthy Barolo that reveals depth and determination.
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Wine & Spirits
Scavino’s vines sit on the highest part of Castiglione Falletto’s Fiasco cru, well positioned to soak up the meager rays of sunshine during 2014’s rainy summer. They produced a seductively aromatic Barolo, its scents of lavender, violet and sage mingling with flavors of ripe cherry and dark spice. A few years in the cellar will round out the chewy tannins, but this is hard to resist now.
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Wine Spectator
This red’s cherry and strawberry fruit is matched by juniper, sun-kissed hay, oak spice and tar flavors. Firm and elegant, with fine balance and length. Needs some time to show all its facets. Best from 2023 through 2038.
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.