2010 Barolo Gavarini Chiniera
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Tasting notes
The 2010 Barolo Gavarini Chiniera is an amazing wine born 430 meters above sea level from white limestone and sandy soils. The elegance expressed by the wine is unforgettable. It opens to a pretty garnet color with ethereal tones of licorice and balsam herb with sharp, delineated contours. This vineyard is usually harvested later than the others, so the growing cycle is extra long and steady. The wine is silky, finessed and profound. Drink: 2018-2040. Gianluca Grasso says the 2008 Barolo Riserva Roncot will be released in 2015. I did not taste that wine because he felt it needed more time. Otherwise the Grasso family has been working hard with researchers at the University of Turin to identify ambient yeast that they may, or may not, utilize in the future. Various American importers, including: Martin Scott Wines, Little Neck, NY; tel. (516) 327-0808; Classic Wine Imports, Norwood, MA; tel. (800) 862-4585; Admirality Beverage Co., Portland, OR; tel. (503) 265-3555; Wine Warehouse
Critic scores
Average Score
Monica Larner, Wine Advocate
Walter Speller, jancisrobinson.com
More reviews and scores
Monforte d'Alba. Palish ruby with a bricky rim. Quite a modernist oak approach but with Nebbiolo fruit in equal measures. Ripe and intense, yet not overtly sweet. Dried-fruit character with plenty of depth. Great succulent finish with lots of finely chiselled tannins. (WS)
The 2010 Barolo Gavarini Vigna Chiniera is a wine of breathtaking purity and finesse. The year that comes to mind is 2008, but the 2010 has a more classic sense of structure, tannic cut and intensity. Bright red berries, crushed rocks, mint and dried flowers are some of the many notes that linger in the glass. Sweet floral notes begin to emerge over time but the 2010 is a reticent, austere wine built for the cellar. Razor-precise veins of acidity and minerality support the brilliant, crystalline finish. This is an especially thrilling Gavarini, but readers are going to have to be patient. The 2010 is a wine to buy and forget about for a decade, perhaps longer. Hints of the 1989 and its extraordinary perfume linger on the finish. Gianluca Grasso adds that for the first time in 2010 he had the courage to pick this fruit a few days later than normal.
Good bright red. Deep, ineffable aromas and flavors of red cherry, redcurrant, rose petal, menthol and flinty minerality. Rich, concentrated and fine-grained, with captivating early perfume giving the wine outstanding inner-mouth tension. Finishes with substantial noble, mouthcoating tannins and superb length. Grasso compared this wine to the 1989.