Scavino’s 2003 Barolo Carobric reveals pretty aromatics and a rich, weighty core of ripe fruit, chocolate and spices, with superb depth and a long, sweet finish. It is a remarkably detailed Barolo for the vintage. Today it comes across as massive and structured, but the wine seems to have enough stuffing to stand up to the tannins. Carobric is made from a blend of the Cannubi, Rocche di Castiglione and Bric del Fiasc vineyards. In most vintages Carobric lacks the distinctiveness of Scavino’s single-vineyard Barolos, but the ability to blend wines from different sites was clearly an advantage in 2003. Anticipated maturity: 2010-2018. This set of new releases from Enrico Scavino is representative of the vintage. Because Scavino produces Barolos from so many different sites, including four single-vineyard wines as well as two blends, his Barolos make for a particularly fascinating analysis of the 2003 vintage. Scavino has decided to release his 2003 Rocche dell'Annunziata as a Riserva, so we will have to wait a few years to see that wine. My early tastings of that wine suggest it is not up to Riserva-level quality, but this is a vintage with many surprises, so it will be interesting to follow its development in bottle. "In 2003 we worked with slightly lower temperatures in order to avoid over-extraction. We also used less of the press wine, which typically has the hardest tannins. After fermentation the wines were racked into French oak barrels (1/3 new) for a year, and then moved into casks for the second year of aging," says Enrico Scavino. I tasted a number of promising Barolos from the 2004, 2005 and 2006 vintages, including the first wine Elisa Scavino is making on her own. It is a 2006 Barolo from the Via Nuova vineyard in Barolo that was fermented with manual pumpovers and punchdowns and aged in 100% new Taransaud oak. It will be fascinating to watch the evolution of this passionate, emerging winemaker. A Marc de Grazia Selection, various American importers, including Michael Skurnik, Syosset, NY; tel. (516) 677-9300, Vin Divino, Chicago, IL; tel. (773) 334-6700, and Estate Wines, Ltd., San Rafael, CA; tel. (415) 492-9411
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