Paolo Scavino, Barolo Riserva “Rocche dell’Annunziata” For Sale

Paolo Scavino, Barolo Riserva “Rocche dell’Annunziata”

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve sat for hours staring at a blank page on my computer screen, trying to figure out a way to do justice to a wine like Scavino’s “Rocche dell’Annunziata” Barolo Riserva. It’s a lot of pressure: This is an important wine, from one of the greatest single vineyard sites—and one of the most prominent wine families—in Barolo.

Then there’s the fact that it’s from one of the greatest vintages of the modern era, 2015. Maybe it’s enough to just list off these vital stats and forget the poetry? It saves time, that’s for sure, and, given how little of this ’15 we have to share, it seems sufficient. Those of you with the disposable income, the proper storage conditions, and the patience for a benchmark bottle like this should not hesitate: This is a best-in-class bottle that will disappear in a flash—up to three bottles per person until it’s gone!

The Paolo Scavino estate, originally founded in 1921, is now run by the congenial Enrico Scavino and his fourth-generation daughters, Enrica and Elisa. Enrico first started working in the family winery in 1951, when he was 10 years old, and eventually the family’s vineyard holdings were divvied up between Enrico and his cousin, Luigi, whose Azelia winery is nearby in the village of Castiglione Falletto. Over his many decades at the helm of the Paolo Scavino estate, Enrico has made incredibly savvy additions to his family’s vineyard portfolio—including grabbing a piece of the famed “Rocche dell’Annunziata” cru, in the village of La Morra, in 1990. Overall, Enrico and family farm 30 hectares of vineyards, all in Barolo, and when you look at the full map of their holdings, just about every prominent single vineyard you can think of is represented. In any given vintage, they may produce as many as nine distinct Barolo bottlings.

Since they acquired their parcel of Rocche dell’Annunziata, they’ve bottled their vineyard-designate wine from the site as a Riserva—meaning it must be aged a minimum of five years (62 months, to be precise) before release. The vineyard climbs to a relatively significant altitude of nearly 400 meters and faces south-southeast, with soils of limestone/clay marl that take on a white/yellow tint. This is a vineyard site known for finessed, perfumed wines, and Scavino’s does not disappoint: There is no shortage of power and aging potential (in fact, even in the generous ’15 vintage, I’d still wait a while before opening this one), but it’s not as brooding a dark-toned as one might expect from a riserva-level bottling.

After a primary fermentation that includes 20-30 days of skin maceration, this wine completes malolactic fermentation in 225-liter French oak barrels. It is then transferred to neutral French oak barriques for 10 months, followed by 24 months in larger casks.

But wait, there’s more! After aging in oak, the wine is transferred to stainless steel tanks for a year, then it spends nearly two more years in bottle before release. And it’s still a baby! In the glass, it displays a deep garnet/ruby core moving to pink at the rim, with an alluring aromatic panorama that grows more complex as the wine takes on air: red and black cherry, dried plum, rose petals, lilacs, mint, espresso grounds, leather, licorice, tobacco, and underbrush. It is full-bodied and firm and needs at least an hour in a decanter before service if you’re drinking a bottle now. Just be sure to save at least one for a special occasion sometime around its 10th birthday. And then another for its 20th! Serve at 60 degrees in Burgundy stems and sip very, very slowly—you won’t want it to end. Cheers!