Paolo Scavino Barolo ‘Bricco Ambrogio’ 2015

Why is this Wine so Yummy?

I often find myself frustrated tasting through hundreds of wines a week. Too boring, to ripe, to technical, just no fun. Speeding through a trade tasting of wines from around the world, I was about ready to walk out when I spied a few wines that made me pause. Paolo Scarvino’s Baroli. The afternoon turned into an epic success. In front of may lay a cluster of real wines. Cru, single vineyard, Baroli this beautiful are less common than you think! These were wines that inspired, poured by Riccardo who clearly knew what he was talking about, lived it, breathed it. It seems passion runs through the veins of the entire business!

Looking at Scavino’s website I found these words which sum up the Paolo Scavino wines:

“Through over 60 years of experience his focus has been to invest on important cru of Nebbiolo to show the uniqueness of each terroir.

Their work is inspired by the love and respect they have for their territory and they pursue purity of expression, complexity and elegance for their wines from the three local grapes Dolcetto, Barbera and Nebbiolo.”

The most important words: respect, purity of expression, complexity, and elegance.

Combine these with a winemaking approach that clearly demonstrates the wisdom that only time and experience can afford a winemaker, and, the results are individual wines of great personality and intrigue. These are the kind of wines that shift you from very good to great.

“He has an open, sunny face and looks at you with confidence because he knows he will never find the words to defend his world but that his wines can defend themselves… He seems an old-fashioned man but he chose to be a winegrower and knows how to observe progress without any conservative reactionary. For each wine produced, depending on the vintage, the right path is chosen without blindly following tradition and without passively following every innovation. He does not love excess” – Luigi Veronelli, I vignaioli storici, volume n.3, testi di Nichi Stefi, Mediolanum Editori Associati, 1988

With a clear transition underway to his daughters Enrica and Elisa it looks like Paolo Scavino will be in good hands for decades to come.

The 2015 Vintage at Paolo Scavino

The 2014 climatic trend has brought an important water reserve that has favored the cycle of the vines throughout the vegetative year, especially during the hottest weeks of the year; the total rainfall of the past year was about 1250 mm, including only 270 mm in November and 70 mm in December.
 
The winter 2015 was quite mild, in January the days with the minimum temperatures below zero were only 5 and 2 days with maximum temperatures close to 20 degrees. The most abundant snowfall of the year was on the 5th and 6 th of February with about 60 cm in Serralunga, La Morra, Novello and 30 cm in the lower areas of Castiglione Falletto. In the same month there were only 2 days with minimums below – 2 ° C. Also March was a warm month with only 7 days of abundant rain so that in the whole month fell 220 mm in La Morra. 
 
April was warm as well with 15 days with temperatures above 20 degrees and 12 days of rain never abundant. In this situation the plants have had an exceptional vegetative growth with a noticeable difference between the most exposed and the less exposed areas. The first green tips appeared on March 30th in the most exposed areas and on April 6th in the fresher areas; as of April 24th, the Nebbiolo were already 30 centimeters long, like the Barbera of the best areas.
 
May was warm with few rainy events from the 19th to the 21st with 30-40 mm of rain, so the shoots have lengthened quickly and the Nebbiolo on May 18th were already in full bloom and from May 24th were also all the other varieties. The fruit setting was not perfect on the Nebbiolo that had a cascade quite abundant for the cold air currents at the end of the month.
 
June started with high temperatures. On the first decade the maximum temperatures always exceeded 30 degrees but there were only 4 days of rain with a total of 30 mm.
July, however, has been exceptional and the wine-growing year has taken a turn. There was only one storm in the whole month with 12 mm of rain and in every day the maximum temperature exceeded 30 degrees. In this situation the Dolcetto started the veraison on the 8th of July, the Barbera on the 18th of July and the Nebbiolo on the 20th of July. Because of the excessive warmth, the vegetative boost of the plants and the veraison are slowed down.
 
In the next four days something fantastic happened, the temperature has decreased, the sun has not been so strong so that the veraison in a few days (4-5) has reached a good percentage; on the 30th of August, Dolcetto is 80% invaded, 40% Barbera and 30% Nebbiolo.

August was a hot month with about 10 days of rain never abundant except on the 15th of August when 15 mm of rain fell down which was ideal for the continuation of the veraison and the maturation of all the grape varieties. The regularity of the veraison allowed to set the thinning out variety by variety.
 
The harvest began at the end of August with the Chardonnay, the Sauvignon blanc and the Viognier. The Dolcetto and the Barbera were picked on the first half of September and gradually with extreme regularity thanks to the few rainy events and the regular maturation. The rain has fallen 3 times in the month with ten days of distance, on the 2nd, on the 12th and on the 20th with respectively 5, 34 and 10 mm. It’s the perfection!
 
It was the perfect situation for the phenological ripening of the Nebbiolo that already at the beginning of September had a good technological ripeness. The harvest of the Nebbiolo started in late September and ended on the 10th of October.  The water reserve has allowed the plants, even in hot weeks, to never go into stress and the regularity of rainfall in August and September have led to a certainly exceptional year.

Vintage Notes  from Paolo Scavino 

Where in the World is Paolo Scavino

Founded in 1921 in Castiglione Falletto, Paolo Scavino under the guidance of Enrico, and, now his daughters, Enrica and Elisa have amassed a superb collection of Cru vineyards in Barolo, representing 20 of 29 hectares with parcels across each of the communes.

These are some of the best sites across Barolo. Click the map to link to an interactive page on Scavino’s website.