Blousy Barolo
Tuesday, August 18, 2009 at 5:26AM 
Everyone seems to love this wine, but me. Huge points always seem to accompany Paolo Scavino’s Baroli, yet to me they have very serious problems - they don’t taste like they were produced in Barolo or produced from the nebbiolo variety. This time the wine was being served by the glass so, while expensive, it was not as big a of hit as buying a whole bottle of pricy wine I was unlikely to enjoy. Being by the glass it gave me a chance to give the wine another chance. I was also hopeful as it was from the lighter 2002 vintage, so I hoped it would have escaped the extremes of the Scavino style. No go. The first glass was clearly oxidized. I just thought it had been opened too long, but the bartender insisted that it had only been opened three or four hours before. A second glass, from a newly opened bottle, was fresher, but the fact that a Barolo that had been opened for only a short period was already shot shows you what happens when you put the wrong variety in new barrels. This newly opened wine showed lots of new oak flavors over a pruney, simple vague overripe fruity flavor. You can buy the same thing for a lot less money, done a lot better if you like that style, from Australia and California. Paolo Scavino is clearly a passionate winemaker, but for me, his choices simply do not work. I just cannot give up the idea that Barolo should taste like Barolo. These wines could come from anywhere.
Reader Comments (8)
Hi Craig,
I must say you are absolutely spot on. The wine are good and even well made. Yet they lack a great deal of tipicity.
They are falling under the category i like to call anygrape anywhere. no special feel or memory are related to them.
That is way they will never be amongst the very best of the region.
they lack the extra sparkle for that.
Cheers
Gal
Gal - I agree with you completely. Your comment "they lack extra sparkle" is a perfect description of what is missing in these wines.
Craig, I spent several weeks last fall visiting producers in the Langhe going between traditionalist like Cavallotto to the polished wines of Sandrone, often in the same afternoon, and (at least with those two producers) found that I could appreciate both styles. As a sommelier, I've always liked being able to show our guests the various expressions of Barolo and Barbaresco being produced today. However, it's becoming increasingly difficult for me to look a guest in the eye and sell a wine made in a style that no longer tastes of its varietal or place and I find that wines like the one you mentioned just sit in the cellar while I burn through my stock of producers that I truly love. I might buy fewer wines from the modernists in the future but I would hate to miss out on wines like those of Luciano Sandrone because I took a hard line stance on traditional over modern. Thanks for your great blog.
Jesse - I don't see this as a "traditional vs. modernist? argument anymore. Those days are passed. The question I always have is if you want to make a big, rich, fruit forward, oaky wine, why in the world would you pick nebbiolo to make it with?
why in the world would you pick nebbiolo to make it with?
because his tannins and his structure, Barolo tipicity still stands even if one vinifies with short macerations and new oaks. Scavino started a new way of meaning Nebbiolo: not always bad at the nose in the first 10 years of release, ready to drink at a restaurant, without waiting 3 hours to allow the wine breath and clean himself.
thanks to people like Enrico, Enrica and Elisa, Barolo production has passed from 8 million to 12 milllion bottles and Barolohas been knowed everywhere in the world. before Scavino, Altare, Clerico, and afterwards La Spinetta, who knew Barolo?
I did.
I don't think it's fair to include La Spinetta in this list. Scavino, Altare and Clerico are great winemakers with a vision I don't share. La Spinetta is a more cynical product.
2002 was a bad year in the Piedmont, FWIW. Still you won't see me defending the wine either...
Hi Craig,
I agree 100% is a huge mistake to place La Spinetta side by side with Scavino, Clerico and Altare. It's like compare Pamela Anderson with Monica Bellucci!!!
Great blog