Winemaker Notes
The premier release of Scavino’s Barolo ‘Prapò,’ from Novello! Vineyards, which sit at 430 meters above sea level and face east, were first planted in 1999. Soils here are comprised of Marne di Sant’Agata, with limestone being a prominent feature of the soil’s makeup. Fruit harvested by hand in the second week of October. Skin maceration took place over 12 days, followed by a 20-30 day fermentation in stainless steel with indigenous yeast. Wine aged in a combination of French barrique and large casks for 2 years prior to bottling.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
The nose is really spot-on here, delivering a wholesome array of fresh hibiscus, redcurrants, fruit tea and rose petals. The palate is very silky and polished, weaving its way neatly through finely arranged layers of bright red fruit. Medium-to full-bodied and wonderfully elegant. Drink in 2022.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Here is another rookie in the lineup for Paolo Scavino. The Ravera vineyard was purchased in 2015, at 2.7 hectares and about 360 meters in altitude. It is their highest vineyard and the last to be harvested every year. This east-facing parcel is never too hot, always showing cooler-climate conditions than the others, with fine tannins and a good dose of acidity. The 2015 Barolo Ravera is a very tight and and precise wine, with notes of exotic tea that follow blackberry, dried cherry and licorice. This is a great new addition to the Scavino portfolio at this time of important changes for the winery.
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Wine Enthusiast
Enticing scents of iris, botanical herbs and woodland berries are front and center on this fragrant red. The firm palate offers Marasca cherry, pomegranate, star anise and white pepper alongside youthfully assertive, fine-grained tannins. Best 2023–2030.
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Wine Spectator
Pure and smooth in texture, featuring cherry, plum, soy, tar, tobacco and eucalyptus flavors that stay focused from beginning to end. Though firm, the tannins have a plumpness to them. Gains equilibrium in the end. Best from 2023 through 2040.
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.