Description

If you have ever traveled to the Piemonte region in northern Italy, the birth place of the Slow Food movement, then you will know how compelling and well matched Barolo is with the local cucina; risotto, truffles, egg noodles, veal and wild boar, wild mushrooms, hazelnuts, chocolate, and of course the cheeses.  If you haven’t visited the region yet, then consider this Brovia Barolo as very proper homework bottles for now or later.

The 2019 Barolo vintage is a standout!  Many critics and winemakers alike are noting the wines as exemplary and comparing them to the classic and great 2010 vintage.  Almost perfect weather allowed the Nebbiolo extended hang time and slow ripening into mid-October.  The result are wines of great color intensity, aromatic complexity and flavor depth, balanced structure rich in tannins, and freshness as experienced in the long tapered finishes.  Wines you should be able to begin drinking very soon, but capable of evolving over the next 25 years.

Belonging to the very top tier of region’s most collectibles is the difficult to find Barolo of Brovia situated in the heart of the district.  The family has been farming its estate in the village of Castiglione Falletto since the mid-1800s.  Farming is all organic and manual-hands on, and the winemaking very traditional with lengthy macerations.  The Barolo is aged in very large Slavonian and French oak cask for two years.  The wines are bottled unfiltered and unfined, and matured another 18-24 months before release.

“Brovia hits it out of the ballpark with this set of wines from the 2019 vintage. The 2019 Barolo Rocche di Castiglione is a darker, broader expression that stands on its own thanks to that special intensity. This expression veers toward dark fruit and black cherry, and there is a lot of iron ore or rusty nail at the back. The wine is almost sanguine in character, but in a manner that enhances all the other beautiful characteristics on hand. The mouthfeel is slightly more open-knit and rich, making this a better pairing partner to hearty meat dishes. Production is 5,000 bottles. 2025-2048.” 97 points, RP-Wine Advocate (ML)

This splendid site in Castiglione Falletto, the fabled “Rocche,” gives us a window onto the elegant, feminine side of Barolo.  Always the most aromatic and sensual of the crus from Brovia, the Rocche dei Brovia carries its weight with a ballerina-like delicacy on top of tannins that are sweet and silky.  A seductress that tempts you to the table with its near-athletic versatility, the Rocche is the one member of this special quartet of crus that will charm you from the outset.  The unique qualities of this “cru” result from the sandy soil composition that is in stark contrast to the terrain that underlies its neighboring “crus” in Castiglione Falletto.  The Brovia parcel (1.5 hectares) of this vineyard faces southeast and sits at 350 meters altitude.  The vines were planted in 1966.  The wine ferments for at least 3 weeks and then is racked into large oak barrels of French origin for an aging period of no less than two years before it is bottled (unfiltered).  Annual production is on the order of 5,500 bottles of which 1,200 bottles (plus 60 magnums) are exported to the USA. – from importer (Rosenthal)