Paolo Scavino: A Major Retrospective

Earlier this year I had the opportunity to attend an incredible tasting at the Scavino estate in Castiglione Falletto. Readers who have visited the winery within the last few years will have no doubt have seen the massive renovations that have been under way for some time. The work was finally completed earlier this year and to celebrate the opening of the new cellar Enrico Scavino hosted a vertical tasting featuring three of his four single-vineyard Barolos; Carobric, Bric del Fiasc and the Riserva Rocche dell’Annunziata.

"I have waited all my life to do a tasting like this," said an emotional Enrico Scavino as he greeted the assembled guests on this picture-perfect spring day. Also present was the entire Scavino family, including wife Anna Maria and daughters Enrica and Elisa. To make the occasion even more special many of the wines were served from rare large-format bottles. When producers of Enrico Scavino’s generation were young and starting out Barolo was far from the prestigious, highly sought wine it is today. Scavino and his peers struggled just to sell through their wines and money was always tight. Few, if any, of the younger generation of producers could have ever imagined how valuable their own Barolos would become. It is therefore quite unusual in Piedmont for estates to have extensive libraries of older releases, so the opportunity to taste so many wines of unparalleled provenance was quite a treat.