2016 Brovia Barolo

The highly touted 2016 vintage sees Brovia at the top of their game!

In 2016, wine growers in Barolo were anticipating a spectacular vintage before they picked a single grape. The growing season was a perfect combination of favorable conditions, beginning with a mild spring bringing adequate rainfall then giving way to a warm, luminous summer with no catastrophic weather events. September’s relatively cool temperatures and wide diurnal shifts allowed for the harvest to push into October—a highly unusual occurrence in today’s warm climate.

While Barolo’s style continues to swing away from the heavily manipulated examples of decades past, it is truly gratifying to work with an estate never tempted by the enticing trends afforded by modern technology. The Brovia family established themselves as winegrowers in the hamlet of Castiglione Falletto more than 150 years ago and over time acquired an enviable collection of vineyards in some of the zone’s most prestigious crus including Rocche di Castiglione, Villero, and Garbèt Sue as well as a sizable block in the cru Brea in Serralunga d’Alba. Giacinto Brovia resurrected viticulture here in 1953, and today his daughters Elena and Cristina, as well as Elena’s impressively talented husband Alex Sanchez guide all activity at the domain.

The vineyards are tended to traditionally with no chemical treatments. The fruit is always hand-harvested, meticulously sorted and fermented naturally in large cement tanks having macerated for 3 to 4 weeks. All crus age in enormous old casks, mostly Slavonian and some French and bottling occurs without fining or filtration. It is Brovia’s time-honored, simple approach in the vineyards and cellar that allows for the incomparable majesty of Nebbiolo to shine. Their wines continue to strike an alluring balance between grace and power, rugged and refined.

Our featured wine is a stunning value and a perfect depiction of Brovia’s style. Their Barolo “normale” consists of 60% of their Brea cru and 40% of the younger vines from the other 3 crus in Castiglione Falletto. This particular bottling beautifully conveys the generous, spicy fruit of Serralunga d’Alba and the mineral foundation typical of Castiglione Falletto. The 2016 shows remarkable finesse and its complex nose presents individual components with uncanny balance and clarity. The palate features a wondrous interaction of perfectly placed acidity and finely drawn tannins. This wine is the quintessential execution of Brovia’s sensitivity and precision.

If you’ve never experienced the house of Brovia, it’s time to knock on the door as you will never drink a better 1st wine in a stellar vintage! And if you’ve already had the privilege, then you already know the incomparable value implicit to Brovia and missing out on this 2016 would be most definitely regrettable.