Vinous

• By Antonio Galloni
  2013 Barolo: The Late Releases (Oct 2017), 10/1/2017 (link)

  (Paolo Scavino Barolo Red) Subscribe to see review text.

JamesSuckling.com

• By James Suckling
  9/6/2016 (link)

  (Paolo Scavino Barolo, Italy) Subscribe to see review text.

Full Pull

• By Paul Zitarelli
  Full Pull Dibs, 10/27/2017

  (Paolo Scavino Barolo) Hello friends. I usually prefer to have a meticulously planned-out offer calendar. But this time of year, events often seem to conspire against that, and some flexibility is required. This was not today’s originally-scheduled email, but on Wednesday we were offered advance access to a series of beautiful Scavino Barolos (including library wines) that just landed in Seattle. The only catch: we need to stake our claim Monday morning; after that, our dibs expire. So yeah, that required a reshuffling of the calendar, but it’s totally worth it. We partnered with Scavino’s local importer last April to do a seminar, and it was overbooked and hugely popular among attendees. What I said then: The winery was founded in 1921 and is now led by Enrico Scavino (third generation) and his two daughters Enrica and Elisa. The wines are fabulous expressions of the varied terroirs that surround the winery (here is their vineyard sourcing map). We are rarely able to offer Scavino’s high-end Barolos, as they have the dangerous combination of being well-reviewed and imported in small quantities. As you’ll see below, that devilish combo of strong reviews and small quantities is very much in effect today. But before we get into that, I want to include an introduction to this set of wines from the eloquent Jon Marvin of Cavatappi Distribuzione, Scavino’s local import partner: Riccardo Sgarra from Scavino graced us with his presence and a preview of the extremely exciting 2013 vintage in Barolo in January this year. Well our second shipment has come to Seattle, as well as a couple of library releases which are drinking beautifully. Every year Scavino offers us a couple of wines from their library and this year we’re fortunate to receive the ’06 Carobric and the ’03 Bricco Ambrogio.  Carobric was created in 1996 and has long been a blend of Cannubi, Rocche di Castiglione, and Bric del Fiasc. Historically, Barolo was a blend of many different communes and crus in the area, with the single vineyard phenomenon being fairly recent in the overall scheme of things.  Carobric is an important wine that shows how a great symphony or choir is most often the result of many beautiful pieces that complement each other.  2006 is a great vintage that is just starting to hit its stride, being in a place that is starting to show secondary and tertiary aromas and flavors, but it still has a decade or so in front of it. And then there’s 2003, yes, that vintage.  When Riccardo was here everyone who saw the lineup we were showing around got excited about the 2013’s and the ’06 Carobric, but there was a general feeling of disinterest about the ’03 Bricco Ambrogio.   Guess which wine was requested for the most when all the pre-sell requests from various tastings and events that we did during his visit were tallied up?  You got it, the 2003 Bricco Ambrogio!  The cru is damn near a monopole for Scavino in the village of Roddi just south of Alba, and in a decade’s time now it has shown the greatness that Enrico envisioned it had when he purchased it in 2001.  It was one of the only crus to not be destroyed by hail in the devastating 2002 vintage and that wine is beautiful today, and when you taste the 2003 you’ll curiously wonder what magic dust might have christened this piece of earth! A quick word about 2003 here for those still on the fence, as in my humble opinion we’re now seeing some fascinating wines emerge over 10 years later.  It was hot, very hot…like people died all throughout Europe kind of hot, and it’s pretty easy for all of us wine know-it-alls to pooh-pooh everything that we come across from such excessive years.  I remember travelling in Europe the following years and being told that in 10 plus years the wines would be very compelling, even youthful, and that they would surely surprise.   We’re seeing that today, and I recall winemakers telling me that the numbers they saw in their labs were off the charts all over the place.   The wines had higher alcohol levels, higher levels of tannins, higher phenolics, even higher acidity levels, and the wines weren’t out of balance per se, they were actually very balanced, just at a level that people hadn’t seen before!  So all that said, I’ve had a number of 2003 wines from Germany, Alsace, Burgundy, and Piemonte in the last few years that have been quite a surprise.  There’s some good deals out there if you look around, and this ’03 Bricco Ambrogio is a perfect place to start! Now then, onto the wines:Release price: $48. Available: 15 cases. Wine Advocate: Copyrighted material withheld. James Suckling: Copyrighted material withheld.