2015 Barolo - A few thoughts

[John_Morris]

John,

I love your description of excessive oak as ‘fuzz,’ and ‘nontransparent’ is very good too. Even big Nebbiolo should be somehow transparent in flavor.

To be clear, it wasn’t oak flavor, so I don’t know if it’s barriques or something else. (I think by '13 Scavino’s use of barriques had been sharply curtailed.) Whatever the cause, tasting the wines was like looking through a very dirty window at the vines.

I found something similar tasting in Bordeaux in 2001 at the properties that used reverse osmosis.

Something like this happens when you dry the grapes for a few days.

Is Scavino still doing that?

[R0_M_0_R_R_1_0_N]

That was an enjoyable and informative read. Thanks. Did you taste any of the wines from Clerico or Scavino, and if so, what are your thoughts?

I did not. It has been several years since visiting either so perhaps a revisit is in order for next year.

I’m not a fan of Clerico, but did visit Enrica at Scavino in the spring and tasted the 2015 lineup - great and will be adding some to my cellar. I came back with a couple of bottles of the 2013 Rocche dell’Annunziata, which was beautiful.

Other notables from my spring trip: Azelia, Poderi Oddero & Luigi Oddero, each of which produced stunning, elegant 2015s.

[Gregory_Dal_Piaz]

To be clear, it wasn’t oak flavor, so I don’t know if it’s barriques or something else. (I think by '13 Scavino’s use of barriques had been sharply curtailed.) Whatever the cause, tasting the wines was like looking through a very dirty window at the vines.

I found something similar tasting in Bordeaux in 2001 at the properties that used reverse osmosis.

Something like this happens when you dry the grapes for a few days.

Is Scavino still doing that?

No idea. Explains older wines though.

[John_W_Osgood]

Thanks for sharing Greg! Quite handy for me as I have a trip coming up to the Langhe in a few weeks. Hopefully I will get to taste some of the '16s during my visits. '15s sound better than I thought they would be, which is a great thing!

[F.Daner]

Great report and fun read with all the focus on the 16’s. I’ve picked up some 15’s at good pricing as I skipped buying last year.