Winemaker Notes
Very ripe berry and spices on the nose. Full-bodied, complex and chewy. Nice velvety tannins and a long and powerful finish.
Professional Ratings
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
Cannubi—the name of an incredible vineyard of 15 hectares in the Barolo DOCG of Piedmont, Italy—is a word that always rings magic to my ears. Whenever I attend a tasting of Italian wines, I always head straight to the table that is pouring a wine from this site. As I approached the Paolo Scavino table, I almost went first to the Cannubi, but instead I restrained myself and tasted through all of the producer's other wines, saving the best for last. Deep and brooding, the wine appeared mysterious and foreboding, almost as if it was saying, "You’d better be ready for me." The wine's aroma presented an air of simplicity and sophistication; pure red fruit, some elusive flowery note, mineral and tar. Yet it never tried to overtake my senses. On the palate, this one is simply magnificent, showing excellent structure and form. This is a young wine with many years ahead of itself before coming to maturity. (Tasted: May 16, 2016, San Francisco, CA)
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James Suckling
Wow. What depth and beauty to this Cannubi with dense palate form, yet it's ultra-polished and refined. It shows a fabulous texture and balance. Lasts for minutes. Better in 2020.
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Wine & Spirits
Scavino harvests fruit for this wine from 66-year-old vines near the top of the Cannubi cru. Their fruit yielded a vibrant wine in 2012, with flavors of cherry and pomegranate that are ripe and fresh, avoiding the dried fruit notes that appear in some wines from this vintage. Its cool tannins feel lean at first, filling in as the fruit opens into notes of plum, menthol and leafy tobacco, leading to a supple and earthy finish.
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Wine Enthusiast
Toast, underbrush, fragrant blue flower and woodland berry aromas lead the way. The firm palate offers tart red cherry, licorice and baking spice alongside fine-grained tannins that lend elegant structure. Drink 2018–2024.
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Wine Spectator
A bright, fruity style, with strawberry and cherry flavors framed by eucalyptus, briar and white pepper accents. Firm and vibrant, showing good equilibrium on the lingering finish. Best from 2018 through 2032.
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.