Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Wow. What incredible purity to this on the nose with blackberries and raspberries and dark wood, such as mahogany or bark. So perfumed, too. Full-bodied with such a solid core of tannins, yet they are layered and polished and come together nicely. A solid, fine wall of tannins, yet the wine is not aggressive. This is really top. Drink after 2024.
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Wine Spectator
Leather, vanilla and spice aromas are expressive, yet underneath there are subtle notes of rose, strawberry, cherry and iron. As this red evolves on the palate, it firms up, remaining harmonious and resonant through the lingering finish. Eucalyptus and wild herb elements emerge with air. Compelling.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Showing resolve and determination, the Paolo Scavino 2017 Barolo Ravera (with fruit from Novello) offers more concentration and a much darker quality of fruit with blackberry and plum. Ravera gives us density and power and a generous display of dark spice with tobacco and toasted hazelnut. Despite that extra muscle and heft, I love how the tannins are so expertly integrated into the fruit.
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Wine & Spirits
Having bought a 6.75 acre Ravera plot in 2015, the Scavino family now owns vineyards in 20 different crus of Barolo; this one is their highest-elevation holding and the last to be harvested. The wine exhibits the freshness typical of Ravera even in warmer vintages. Notes of menthol amplify that freshness, as do the cool, mineral tannins that keep the ripe red- and black-cherry flavors taut and precise.
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.