Winemaker Notes
Bricco Ambrogio has an intense and multifaceted aromatic spectrum. The core is soft and polished through a beautiful acid-tannic balance. There is an underlying depth in this Barolo and the finish is long and nuanced.
Professional Ratings
-
James Suckling
Dried-berry and plum aromas with some toffee and cedar character on the nose, following through to a medium to full body. It’s very linear and structured with lots going on. Wonderful length and intensity. Give it time to open. Try after 2023.
-
Jeb Dunnuck
Located in Roddi, the 2017 Barolo Bricco Ambrogio is marked by perfume of chalky earth, violets, and kirsch. The palate moves into dark fruits, with ripe currant, sweet tobacco, and tannins that emerge on the finish. Hold for 2-4 years and drink 2024-2042.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
From the village of Roddi, the Paolo Scavino 2017 Barolo Bricco Ambrogio shows a sweet quality of fruit, with candied cherry and summer peach. Those fruity tones are framed by elegant notes of smoke, tar and hazelnut cream. This wine shows a loosely knit texture with soft tannic integration and a very accessible style that sets this bottle up for near and medium-term drinking.
-
Wine & Spirits
This wine is fruit-forward and approachable for a young Barolo, offering flavors of warmed cherry and cassis accented by notes of licorice, orange peel and cola. The tannins are firm and lightly raspy, allowing those bold fruit tones full expression.
-
Wine Spectator
Incisive aromas of rose, cherry, menthol, tar and eucalyptus mark this harmonious red, which is lively and defined, with savory elements playing out on the dusty finish.
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.