(2024) A traditional Barolo that spent three years ageing in large oak casks, then six months in bottle, before release. Medium-pale in colour and density, the nose has an attractive perfume with small floral notes over tobbaco spice and chestnut. The palate has good fruit, but it stays in a very savoury spectrum, tannins quite chewy and dense, a twist of bittersweet acidity, and lively length balancing raspberry bright fruit and a darker liquorice stripe.

(2024) From producer Luigi Scavino, a wine made in a combination of barriques and large botti, with minimal new oak. The colour has an elegant age, with amber on the rim of medium-pale garnet. The nose is lovely, rose-hip and violet nuances oven through raspberry and a touch of cedar. The plate is medium-bodied and quite firm, the acid relatively prominent along with spicy wood and firm, endive-like tannins. But there is most certainly fruit too, with small red berries and a slightly sauvage quality of bramble and wild strawberry. The finish is again quite grippy with that tannin and acid axis. I don't know this producer and wine well enough to guess at its potential longevity, but it drinks really well, if a touch lean, at time of review.

(2024) A selection Dolcetto grown within the two Barolo appellation vineyards, Coste and Fossati. The family specifically chose plants that had red stems, so even the stems where full of polyphenols. Briar and cherry are the driving notes from a wine with long skin contact but gentle extraction with the cap not submerged, made in stainless steel. There is an intensity to the palate, the concentration of the fruit, acid and the tannin gives a spicy grip in the mouth. There is lovely freshness here in a dry wine that has a juiciness, then ends with a lightly chalky tannin. Though Giuseppe believes this ages nicely for a few years, he stresses that it is not meant to be a Barolo, it is ready to drink.

(2024) Giuseppe talks about the three phases of this wine, once a single vineyard from Bricco delle Viole, but Barbera is sensitive to Esca, a grapevine trunk disease, and the Barbera in that vineyard was lost. Now it comes mostly from another vineyard planted in 2000, which is very steep and terraced. Deeply coloured, it is a highly aromatic wine, the violet and cherry-kirsch notes more pronounced than the Dolcetto. Ageing in large Slavonian oak casks adds and another element of softness in the mouth, though that comes mostly through very fine fruit tannins is delightful, sweetly-edged but with that bittersweet and tart character that  ends with a little spice and a lovely balance.  

(2024) Freisa is a local red wine grape variety, taking its name from the Italian word for strawberry, once used extensively in making Vermouth. Now Giuseppe describes it as 'endangered'. It is a long-stemmed variety, that is often not protected well by the leaf canopy, so farming is key, but still rain and bad weather can severly reduce yields. Again there is a fragrance here touching into violet, a blue-black fruit quality and firmess, but fruit is to the fore. There's a rustic grip to this, certainly in contrast to the Barbera, with sandy tannins coating the mouth giving a chalky dryness. It's an intriguing wine - most definitely a food wine - though the balance here is so fine, the acid retaining freshness and the savoury fruit never lost. In some ways a baby Barolo, which will no doubt benefit from decanting or, even better, some time in the cellar. No UK retail stockists listed at time of review.  

(2022) A Cru vineyard Barolo from a warm vintage, this was aged six months in barrique before being transferred to 2,000-litre Slavonian oak casks for a further 24 months prior to bottling. The soft ruby core moves to brick on a broad rim, and the nose is mellow and developed, a little truffle and rose perfume over ripe autumnal hedgerow berries. Tobacco and a touch of Sandalwood underpin. In the mouth the wine flatters with creamy and soft mature fruits, but then a bit of the steely core is revealed, with very firm tannins and plenty of juicy acidity to enliven the more giving fruit of the mid-palate. A tough one to judge, but I think this still feels youthful and as though there is the balance there for considerable ageing potential.

(2022) Justerini & Brooks has worked with the Scavino family for thirty years, the company run today by sisters Enrica and Elisa Scavino. This is one of the 'modernist' estates of Barolo, using smaller French oak barriques in the cellar, but also concentrated on improving vineyard practises. Pale to medium soft ruby in colour, there's a delicately and exotically spiced plum compote character here, the Barolo 'tar and roses' description fits well, but elegant and discreet. In the mouth it is fresh and direct. Oak is very under-played, this being driven by a lean, firm fruit focus and pert acids, the grip of tannins adding to the slightly austere feeling of the wine.

(2022) From a vineyard that sits 290 metres above sea level and faces south to south-west on limestone soils. Aged for 18 months in large, old wooden cask. Beautiful perfume touching florals and kirsch, crisp tannins and acids, a fulsome creaminess and real fruit sweetness before a delicious, bitter herbal tang in the finish. Superb.

(2022) A Cru Barolo from this family estate, aged for over two years in large Slavonian oak casks. A firm, graphite and polished wood character here beneath taut, youthful black fruit, it is immediately concentrated and serious, but there's a floral, violet lift too in this young wine. The palate is equally polished and tight, the black fruit sinewy and dense, the very fine, authoritative  tannins and acid balance suggesting cellaring will see this blossom over a decade or more.

(2022) Musso produces its Barbaresco from its 10 hectares of family vineyards. Pale to medium Ruby in colour, the nose has crushed red berries, like cranberries and redcurrants, with floral tones and a certain peppery quality. In the mouth a fine, mineral-etched, dry and savoury character, the hint of juicy red fruit sweetness swept up in orangey acidity, that pepper again, and firm tannins adding a bit of sinewy grip.