A month in Barolo: A visit at Azelia with the Scavino family

I had such a beautiful visit with Lorezno Scavino of Azelia, with a surprise accompaniment of both his parents, who he says rarely find themselves in the tasting room! So a nice treat, indeed. It already feels like family in Lorenzo’s company, so this only expanded that feeling. Since my visit with them in 2014, I’ve sought out quite a few older vintages of Azelia, and the prior label, Alfonso Scavino. Notably, I shared a bottle of 1968 Alfonso Scavino Barolo with my parents on their 50th wedding anniversary in 2018! So it feels very nice and comforting being back here with them.

This first photo is from the backside of their newly completed underground cellar. Here we are 15 meters below ground, and this massive retaining wall was erected to hold back the hills of Castiglione Falletto. The most unique aspect of this is the pillars, allowing space between so you can experience the earth’s breathing soil. This helps with both temperature and humidity regulation. Lorenzo mentioned that the soil really does begin to seep after heavy rains. As the excavation is still relatively recent (in the last few years), the dirt is still settling. A couple cool pieces is you can see how much softer the soil is at the top (hence it having crumbled away a bit), and very neatly, you can also see the roots of Azelia’s Punta vineyard Barbera plants above us! Yup, those are 10+ meter long roots! Amazing.





They presented the full line up of 2021 Barolos, which indeed is shaping up to be a very fine vintage here. As is often the case for my palate, the Margheria was my wine of the flight, with its beautiful mineral salinity shining through elegant soil and fruit notes, with very fine tannins. It will definitely be landing in my cellar, but all the Crus are indeed special in 2021 and worth seeking out. The Cerretta is the youngest vines here, with them only choosing to first bottle it alone once the vine age reached 30 years (with the 2016 vintage). The wine is incredibly pretty and approachable at present, with such beautiful, fine tannins.

Thank you Lorenzo, Luigi, and Lorella, for welcoming me so openly, and for allowing the creation of new memories!

Me with Lorenzo Scavino and his parents, Lorella and Luigi Scavino:

• 2023 Azelia Dolcetto d'Alba Bricco dell'Oriolo 89 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Alba, Dolcetto d'Alba

  55 year old Dolcetto vines from Bricco dell'Oriolo. Light, floral notes, and some tart spree aroma. Light and simple on palate entry, showing nice acidity and very light tannins. Soft, mild, and pure in the mouth. Nice bloom of acidity on the finish and light, but lovely, structure lingers, leaving a very nice impression.

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• 2022 Azelia Langhe Nebbiolo 90 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Langhe DOC

  Really quite pretty fruit forward aroma, but it is rather soft and light. Soft, light, and pretty in the mouth, showing a tartness and light red fruited complexion. Feels perfect for a Langhe Nebbiolo; not too strong in structure as they sometimes can be. Rich intensity on the finish, where more of its Nebbiolo bones show up, but it's pretty, with some floral notes and nice red berry tones to balance that structure. Lovely acidity as well. Small sips reveal a really pretty red fruited berry on the finish. Nice stuff.

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• 2023 Azelia Barbera d'Alba Vigneto Punta 91 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Alba, Barbera d'Alba

  Very pretty aroma, very fruit forward, but also quite elegant with lovely intensity. Rich, soft, and pure on palate entry, showing lovely integration of its acid and very fruit forward character. Beautiful structure on the finish, and glorious red fruits. A fine vintage this year.

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• 2021 Azelia Barolo 89 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  Nice pretty aroma; tight, but still showing some soft elegance. Elegant texture in the mouth, but fairly light. Well balanced structurally in the mouth, but it's not giving very much. Quite tight. This tightness carries into the finish, which is rather hard at present. Strong tannins. Just not showing much at present.

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• 2021 Azelia Barolo Bricco Fiasco 92 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  I was actually a bit surprised to learn on this visit that this wine no longer sees any barrique. Not sure when the shift happened, but when I was here in 2014 there was certainly plenty of barrique still being used in the Brico Fiasco and San Rocco. This wine is definitely better off in Botti. Smells more forward than the normale, and quite a bit more elegant. Quite gorgeously perfumed, actually, and surprisingly approachable and pretty. The palate enters soft, with nice texture, but gets tighter than the nose would have suggested, but this time it does develop some juicy fruit as its held in the mouth. Very strong tannins on the finish and rather intense, nearly bitter finish. Gritty, and intense, this wine is still mostly about its structure at present, but the nose hints this will open with more time.

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• 2021 Azelia Barolo Margheria 94 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  This has always been my go to single vineyard in Azelia's lineup, primarily because it was always done in Botti, but now that's the standard, not the exception here. But even still, this was my favorite wine of the lineup, and one I hope to add bottles of when they land in Portland. The aromas were softer than the Bricco Fiasco, but oh so pretty and elegant. Smells like classic, traditional Barolo. Really elegant and soft, beautiful texture on palate entry, showing some soil, and mineral notes shining through. The Margheria really shows differently for those elements. Again, quite different on the finish, which is intense, but the tannins are all very fine grained and beautifully integrated with the fruit, and some salinity and minerality. A beautiful wine.

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• 2021 Azelia Barolo San Rocco 92 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  Vine age is 80 years. Pretty and floral aromas, and quite high toned fruit here. Beautiful fruit on palate entry, showing some floral components as well. Well integrated. Some floral tones on the finish, showing again beautiful structural integration of tart tannins that are quite puckering, gritty tannins, but it's all tied tightly with the fruit. 92+

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• 2021 Azelia Barolo Cerretta 93 Points

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  The Cerretta is the youngest vines here, with them only choosing to first bottle it alone once the vine age reached 30 years (with the 2016 vintage). It's my first time trying their Cerretta. The aromas are soft, pure, but a bit lighter than the other Barolo. Still shows a lot of elegance, though. Soft and pure palate entry, again, quite elegant. Mild, soft red fruits, and not as firm structurally as the other Barolo, showing lovely purity of intense red fruit. Beautiful red fruit on the finish attacks again, showing some sweeter tannin. Lorenzo commented this site always shows those sweeter tannin. This is honestly quite pretty for consumption today, something I rarely say about current release Barolo. The tannins are of course still incredibly strong and wollop you a bit at the end, but the firm sweet fruit and tannin integration are very pleasing. Again, a wine I hope to seek out.

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• 2014 Azelia Barolo Riserva Bricco Voghera

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  Always a rare chance to get to try their Riserva Bricco Voghera, perhaps I was most excited to have this at 11 years old. This is the current release of this wine. I didn't actually see Lorenzo or Luigi try the wine, and it was at the end of the tasting when there was a lot of commotion going on with other groups arriving, so I didn't it feel appropriate to broach the subject of the wine... but to me, I hope this was a flawed bottle. This had an very odd umami character on the nose, and generally smelled quite oxidized and stewed in its aroma. Hugely intense acidic structure in the mouth, but really, not showing any other character beyond that. Bitter, strong tannins on the finish, and tastes of more oxidized fruit. Ripping acid and structure. Not sure if this bottle was right.

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