2018 Visit to Brovia with Alex Sanchez

Castiglione Falletto
Tasted Monday, December 31, 2018 by HowardNZ with 249 views

Introduction

Azenda Agricola Brovia was founded in 1863. It remains in the hands of the same family.

Under winemaker and co-owner Alex Sanchez, Brovia adopts a traditional, non-interventionist winemaking approach. Alex said that in his work, “The main thing I do is I try to preserve the terroir of the wines”. Brovia is 100% organic and certified. Typical maceration periods for Barolos are four weeks and Sanchez mainly uses neutral, large Slovenian casks.

Typically Brovia produces 60,000 to 70,000 bottles of wine per annum. About half of this is from younger vines – Barbera, Dolcetto, Nebbiolo, Freisa and Arneis – and the rest from Brovia’s four Barolo sites.

Brovia has three Barolo vineyards in Castiglione Falletto and one in Serralunga d’Alba:

- Rocche dei Brovia: The Brovia parcel (1.5 hectares) of this vineyard faces south-east and sits at 350 metres altitude. The soil here is largely sandy, often lending the Cru a certain elegance. The vines were planted in 1966.

- Villero: This 1.5 hectare vineyard faces south-west at an altitude of 340 metres. The vines were planted in 1961.

- Garblèt Sué (also referred to as the “Fiasco” vineyard) is 0.7 ha on south/south-east slopes at an altitude of 250 metres with soil that is predominantly limestone. The vines were planted in 1970 and 1979.

- Brea Vigna Ca'mia in Serralunga. This is a one hectare vineyard planted in Nebbiolo in 1955. The exposure is south-east and the altitude is 350 metres.

Alex talked about his recent vintages and harvests:

- 2010: “For our 2010 Barolos, wait five years from now”.

- 2011: “Now is the perfect time to drink our 2011s”.

- 2013: “Give my 2013s 3-5+ more years” but they are not “impossible wines” and they “will not remain closed for as long as 2010s. They will however go 10-15 years, easily”.

- 2014: Due to weather conditions being bad, particularly in Castiglione Falletto, in the year, only one, blended, unique Barolo was made, the Unio. Normally, in a vintage, Brovia will produce 40,000 bottles of Barolo, being approximately half the Normale and half the Cru. In 2014 they produced only 20,000 bottles of Unico and no Normale. The grapes came from a selected part of Brea and two of the Castiglione sites (Alex did not specify which).

- 2015: “2015-2017 were nice vintages, all on the warm side”.

- 2016: “2016 was a late harvest after a cool spring and warm summer. It seems like a classic vintage with nice structure and freshness”. Of the three vintages, for his Barolos, Alex rates 2016 as the best (“a little more classical”). He said that his “2016s will be somewhere between my 2012s and 2013s in style”.

- 2017: “2017 was warm and dry. The vines were well behaved”. Alex is impressed by his 2017s. They have turned out “fresher than I had expected”.

Flight 1 (4 Notes)

  • 2017 Fratelli Brovia Roero Arneis

    Italy, Piedmont, Alba, Roero

    From bottle. A pale, watery colour. An attractive nose of cinnamon and other spices, pears, lemons and rocky minerals. Crisp with fresh acidity. Also, pleasing texture and oily viscosity. Good mid palate weight and volume. For me, a better Arneis than either the 2017 Giacosa or the 2017 Vietti I recently tried.

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  • 2016 Fratelli Brovia Barbera d'Alba Sorì del Drago

    Italy, Piedmont, Alba, Barbera d'Alba

    Vivid crimson colour. A nice nose suggesting milk chocolate, dark plums, liquorice, blackberries and charred game meats. On palate, serious weight and power. Dark fruit, cassis and high cacao chocolate. Decent acidity. The 14.5% alcohol relatively seamless. Good Barbera. "A classic, easy drinking Barbera", said Alex.

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  • 2014 Fratelli Brovia Barolo Unio

    Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

    Alex said that “Unio” was Latin for “unite”. The sole Barolo made from fruit that could be salvaged from the Barolo sites in a difficult weather year. A breezy, lifted ethereal bouquet of spices, rose buds, red cherries and citrus. “Nice, complex aromatics”, said Alex. On palate, a lighter weight Barolo than is typical from Brovia. “Very different from our Normale and our typical Cru”, said Alex. “Very interesting. A nice quality vintage. Soft tannins and good freshness …”. I noted higher than normal, but not exaggerated, acidity. Alex continued, “… in pinot noir style. It will evolve well in the next 5-10 years, because of that good acidity”. Alex suggested it may have a 15 year life, but that the longevity “could surprise on the upside”. I liked the wine but, at least based on this pour, wondered whether it was of the very high standard of Brovia’s typical Cru.

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  • 2015 Fratelli Brovia Barolo Brea Vigna Ca'mia

    Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

    From tank. Deep ruby colour. Very red fruited bouquet: red cherries, red currants, spices and a little red liquorice. Mouth filling. A palate staining, large volume of crunchy red berry fruit. “This is the most powerful of the Cru. You feel the power here. The 2015 is fresher and bigger than the 2011”. On the evidence of this small pour, this seemed a very promising Serralunga Barolo indeed.

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