I apparently had purchased a fair bit of 2016 Paolo Scavino without ever trying their wines before. I have each of the Normale, Monvigliero, Carobric & Bric del Fiasc. They are in storage unfortunately, so it will be a bit of time before I can open one. I was wondering if anyone has had any of these and or has any thoughts on the aging potential of these.
From other recent threads I am under the impression that Paolo Scavino was very modernist, but has shifted slightly back a bit in recent years. The modernist-traditionalist spectrum is obviously oversimplified, but any thoughts on where they are now is also appreciated.
They’re high quality wines that will age for a long time. I wouldn’t be surprised if they have shut down at this point.
I think the shift back toward traditional is exaggerated by Scavino. Sure, they have made some changes in that regard, but the wines still all taste very similar to me. Let’s just say they’re a far cry from Burlotto, for a relevant example.
My experience may only go through 2015 (I don’t remember if I tried the '16s), so this is generalization rather than comments from memory on your wines specifically.
I was at a tasting with someone from the winery at my local wine shop right before the pandemic and tasted through most of them. I ordered a mixed case and they were all very good but do need some time. The Fiasc was exceptional and when I found a good deal I bought four more. In time that’s gonna be an amazing wine
It’s funny, as soon as the conversation got into modern vs traditional my first thought was the bottles of the 2016 Scavino Prapo I purchased. David Baum any thoughts on that specific bottle?
I’ve consumed 4-5 bottles of the 2016 base-level Barolo, and it was very good. I wouldn’t necessarily flag it as being especially modern in style (in terms of oak, etc.). It has a very pleasing level of acidity and bright fruit with some pretty herbal notes. While not overly heavy, oaky, extracted or creamy, it certainly highlights the fruit, so someone looking for a truly traditionalist style may not like it at all. In any event, t I thought it was a really good value for the $36 asking price (in our market)…
I wouldn’t say that they have gone traditional, but they certainly have pulled back from their late-90s/early-00s peak of lipstick slathered wines. I certainly wouldn’t equate it to Alessandria (Burlotto is just such a singular producer), but it also isn’t priced like it.
I tasted through the '16s three years ago and thought they were much more transparent than they had been. By contrast, the '13s a couple of years earlier came across as muddy to me – lacking precision, whether because of barriques or malo in barrel or whatever.
In 1993, rotofermentors arrived at the estate, and between 1996-1999, Slavonian casks were replaced with French oak—but barriques here were always and only used for the first 10 months of aging to help fix color before the wines were transferred to larger oak botti. The percentage of new oak has been much reduced from a height of 30% from the 1990s to 2004, to only 20% new from 2004 – 2008, 17% new in 2011 & 2012, and for the 2015 harvest they have even reduced to a further 14% new.
I hade the same experience with the 2015s (as you with the 2013s), nonetheless that was about 60 Nebbiolo wines later that I got to Scavino, and called it quits shortly after that.
I had the opportunity to taste through a dozen of the 2016s when the local distributor got samples ahead of their drop. January of 2020 sounds about right.
I remember being surprised how balanced they were as far as oak and alcohol. The Cannubi and Monvigliero were the homeruns IMO. Lots of energy and super vibrant but not over the top as far as the fruit went. I didn’t purchase any for myself however the shop went through 30 cases in the 1st 6 months.
Still have the two i bought. I kinda remember it being on a similar level as the Ravera which were middle of the road off the bunch. Faves were Fiasc, Cannubi and Monvig. I’ve only had the Bricco ambrogio which was the least favorite of the ones i bought. Still very young to me
I’ve worked through 5 of 6 for the Classico starting Sept 20 through August 21. Each bottle was better than the prior. On the easy drinking side but the wine has developed nicely and would grab some more especially at the pricing I got. Not quite at the 16 Vietti Castiglione level but a solid classico.
My only experience so far with the Cru wines was the Monvigliero Oct 2020. Here’s my CT note. It was really big but enjoyable especially paired with food. We had the 18 F Alessandria at the winery back in June and prefer their style but happy to have all the 16’s and will continue to buy these at the right prices.
“This opens up with an exuberant and expressive nose of cherry and floral tones. The nose itself is worth opening right now. Not surprisingly it’s wide open right on the palate with silky fine tannins in a super expressive expression. Layers of flavors of cherry, floral and a touch of menthol unfold and get deeper with more time in the glass. It was an excellent match with a veal chop and I preferred it with food which tamed it a bit. It was terrific on day 2 with a bit of the exuberance tamped down with a bit more classic expression. This really delivers for the $ and I think will pick up a point or 2 in the next few years as it develops in bottle. (2341 views)”
I think they’re good wines, and they’ve gotten better, but I have no idea how they will age. They’re still, to me, made in a slightly modern style. Someone below compared some of the wines to Vietti, and I think that’s a great comparison, and I don’t know how those wines age either.
If one is looking for very traditional Barolo, this is not quite it, though one may not be looking for that!
I’m a bit suspicious of that timeline. A friend has opened a number of the late 80s Scavinos at dinner and they are some of the most charmless correct older Italian wines I’ve ever had, which in Barolo typically implies unevolved oak to me.
Vietti never got anywhere near the extremes of Scavino in terms of oak, and the Vietti wines of today are aged entirely in cask. I haven’t tasted the latest Scavino wines to have an opinion.
But the 1999, 2001, and 2004 vintages I’ve had from Scavino have been heavily marked by oak, even drinking them today with a lot of age for the oak to integrate. The Vietti Rocche from 1999 might have a touch of oak influence remaining, but it’s very light and well integrated into the wine. The Vietti Rocche from more recent vintages from the mid-2000s to the present have no sign of oak at all. The Vietti style might have a bit more concentration than the most traditional wines, but there is no oak signature.
A 1982 Scavino Bric del Fiasc I had a few years ago was very nice - no oak there.
Rob, thanks for the clarification. I was referring to the current Vietti wines, which I know we don’t really agree on, but which I also don’t think are “fully traditional”. Whether one likes them beyond that is entirely a palate preference point. I would agree the Vietti wines are better than Scavino’s, though I think the current scavino wines are going for a Vietti style.
That was definitely the period of peak spoofing. I remember tasting the '98 at the winery in 2002 and thinking it was a real mess. By contrast, I’d liked the '96. Time to open a '96. Haven’t tried one in a decade.
Yes, I wondered about the Skurnik version, too. I wonder if perhaps he was using a higher proportion of new barriques before 1993 (the “experimenting”) and then pulled back.
When I first visited in 1996, Enrico offered me a taste of a blend, served blind, which he called a “segreto” – a secret. As I recall, he said it was four grapes.
I swirled and sniffed and sipped and then sniffed again. At some point, something syrah-ish jumped out at me. When I guessed syrah outloud, Enrico smiled and acknowledged that I was right. I always wondered where those vines were and what happened to them.
The point: He was doing a lot of experimenting in that period.
Syrah might help the late 80s Scavino. My issue with these wines isn’t that they’re bad, but that they make me feel like I’m drinking some kind of very mediocre Bordeaux - a weird type of “international” wine designed to get scores but not to evoke a place.
This is also the reason why I find technical sheets less than entirely useful - producers are both not always entirely honest (to be clear, I don’t blame them!) and sometimes simply forget what they did years ago. Given the trend back to traditional Barolo, there’s no reason for Scavino to talk about all the barriques they were using back when it was the hot and exciting thing to do. The current wines can stand on their own.