2017 Barolo Gavarini Chiniera

Ripe-berry aromas with toffee and some iodine and stone. Full-bodied with depth of fruit and chewy, polished tannins that are intense and pointed. This has so much structure and intensity. Give it time to soften and come together. Try in 2025.

The distinctive amphitheater that is Gavarini in Monforte d’Alba is situated just north of Ginestra. The 2017 Barolo Gavarini Chiniera is nuanced with perfectly ripe cherry, cinnamon, cedar, and menthol. It delivers a high level of refinement on the palate, with super-fine tannins, orange peel, pomegranate, and dried roses. Drink 2025-2045. This estate covers 42 hectares of land, of which 18 are dedicated to vineyard and the remainder to forest. Today, the entire family is involved at the winery – Elio, Gianluca, Marina, Francesca, Martina and Anna Grasso. In the cellar, Gianluca practices low temperature fermentations with long macerations of up to two months with submerged cap management. Large Slavonian casks of 15- to 22-year-old barrels that have been steam-treated instead of charred are utilized. In 2017, they managed the vineyard differently to adapt to the challenges of the vintage and did two separate green harvests in order to ensure the grapes achieved phenolic ripeness; once during veraison, as well as in August, reducing yields by nearly another 50%.

Grasso's 2017 Barolo Gavarini Chiniera is fabulous. In fact, the Gavarini is easily one of the wines of the vintage because it retains all of its classic signatures, which is also the sign of a first-class vineyard. Bright and vibrant in the glass, the Gavarini pulses with energy. Crushed red flowers, mint, chalk, white pepper, cinnamon and orange peel give the 2017 a super-classic Nebbiolo profile, as expressed in a relatively high-altitude site. The precision and finesse of the tannins - so hard to find in 2017- elevates the Gavarini into the realm of the sublime.