2001 Barolo Brea Vigna Ca' Mia

Brovia's 2001 Baroli are stunning. Such beauty. Such grace. It's all there in these splendid, handcrafted wines. Vinification and aging are very much done along traditional lines, although Brovia prefers French rather than Slovenian oak for their casks. Readers who own these wines are going to be very, very happy.

Over the last few years this estate has turned out a number of terrific wines that exemplify the new traditionalism of Barolo, faithfully expressing the distinct qualities of varietal, vintage and terroir in a style that is classic yet accessible at the same time. The estate works with old vines in some of the most prestigious sites in Castiglione Falletto and Serralunga. The average age of the plants is 30 years for Garblèt Sué (also known as Bricco Fiasco), 40 for Villero and Rocche, and 50 for Ca' Mia (also known as Voghera/Brea). Readers seeking fine, traditionally-made Barolos would do well to check out these wines, which also happen to be among the most compelling values in the region. “For our Barolos we do roughly 20 days of fermentation and maceration in cement tanks with a temperature between 28-30˚C (82-86˚F),” says Alex Sanchez, who left the corporate life at a major consulting firm when he married Elena Brovia. “The wines are then racked into 30-hectoliter French oak casks. We let the malos occur naturally and they are usually finished by the following spring. The wines age a total of two and half years in oak prior to being bottled. All our single-vineyard Barolos are vinified and aged the same way in order to highlight the differences of the terroirs we work with. The only real exception is our Barolo normale, which is aged in a 100-hectoliter Slavonian oak cask.” This producer's normale is one of the best-kept secrets in the region. It is made from the wine that is leftover after the casks used for the single-vineyard Barolos have been filled up, along with fruit from vines between 15-25 years in all four of the estate's vineyards.

The Brovias have hit a home run in 2001, with a set of Barolos that offer deep color, superb depth of flavor and powerful structure for aging. Cristina Brovia describes 2001 as "similar to 1996 but with sweeter tannins," which sounds to me like a Platonic ideal for Barolo. (Giacinto Brovia is now helped by daughters Cristina and Elena, both of whom have enology degrees, and Elena's husband Alex Sanchez. )These are classically made Barolos that normally receive a three-week maceration in cement tanks, which Elena says are ideal for keeping the temperature of fermentation down. Typically about ten days of post-fermentation maceration are done before the wines go into 30-hectoliter barrels made of French oak. Prior to '95, the family used considerably larger barrels, but Cristina noted that the 30-hectoliter size produces wines with better balance and does a better job of retaining terroir character. "The larger barrels made tougher wines," she admitted. "Now our wines can actually be tasted after two or three years in bottle. "