2010 Barolo Bricco Fiasco

Father and son team Luigi and Lorenzo Scavino have done a marvelous job with their 2010 Barolos, which are some of the very finest wines I have ever tasted here. In 2010, Azelia suffered through the same factors as everyone else, which is to say an irregular flowering that lowered yields and summer with a good deal of rain. The perfect fall with large diurnal temperature swings resulted in a harvest that took place between October 15 and 20, quite late by today's standards, but typical during the pre 1985 period. With the exception of the Margheria, the Barolos are aged in French oak barrels, about 20% new. Since 2005 new oak and toast levels have come down, while fermentations have gotten longer, a confluence of factors that explains why the wines have often been more expressive and nuanced over the last few years.