Winemaker Notes
The Barolo Cannubi has a rich, dense body where the charm of Nebbiolo is fully expressed. Harmonious and with a very fine texture, it’s all about Nebbiolo charm.
Professional Ratings
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Wine & Spirits
The Scavino family has been producing a wine from a 1.36- acre rented plot in Cannubi since 1985, but, according to Elisa Scavino, their contract ended in 2018. If this is indeed the last vintage, the wine ends on a high note. Scavino’s 2018 Cannubi offers a core of richly concentrated dark cherry couched in a smooth, seamless texture. Hints of licorice, sage and menthol enliven the dark fruit tones, and the wine finishes on a bright orange-peel note.
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James Suckling
Very floral nose with bright red berries, some cedary oak and and an exotic hint of musk. Medium-to full-bodied with intense, spicy fruit flavors against a backdrop of lightly firm and lightly grainy tannins that together produce surprising length. Well poised and showing good pedigree, despite the difficult vintage. This will age nicely, but is great to taste now.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Packaged with a black label, the Paolo Scavino 2018 Barolo Cannubi opens to a delicate and luminous appearance with lifted aromas wild rose, lilac, wild berry and crushed stone. The wine shows great depth and complexity compared to some of the more subdued wines found in this vintage. This is one for the cellar. Best After 2024.
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Wine Enthusiast
Wild herb, iris, red berry and oak-driven spice aromas come to the forefront. Full-bodied but with so much finesse it seems almost weightless, the taut, tense palate features ripe Morello cherry, raspberry compote, coconut and licorice before closing on a hint of espresso. Tightly knit, close-grained tannins provide firm support while bright acidity keeps it vibrant.
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Wine Spectator
This Barolo is marked by a combination of cherry, menthol, leather and spice flavors. Verges on rich, yet is solidly built, displaying tar and tobacco accents on the firm, dry finish. Balanced and long. Best from 2026 through 2043.
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.