Elio Grasso Gavarini Vigna Chiniera, Barolo DOCG, Italy 2020

Elio Grasso, Monforte d’Alba, Italy

The Elio Grasso Estate, located in the municipality of Monforte d’Alba, has 42 hectares of land of which 24 are forests and meadows that surround the 18 hectares of vineyards, within the World Heritage site.

We believe that to be acknowledged first as grape farmers, and then as wine producers, is the best way to honour, and continue the labours of, those who have faced before us the challenges that working with nature and her products, like wine, entails. This, and a desire to be true to ourselves, prompts us propose, without presumption, the convictions and conduct shared by all Langhe farming families, characteristics worth preserving and which we believe make the difference.

" From 35-year-old vines and boasting a jeweled red color, the 2020 Barolo Gavarini Chiniera is ripe and fruity on the nose, with a lot of spice to balance it out, revealing notes of baked red cherries, leather, toasted cedar, pine, and menthol. Medium-bodied, it offers a lot of freshness on the palate, with fine, approachable tannins and good, even freshness and acidity. Compared to the Case Mate, it has a more linear feel and offers a clean stony texture and more orange citrus fruit. It feels very balanced, and while it has a stamp of oak spice, it’s well-integrated. Give this another six months or so in bottle and drink it over the next 15 or more years." Jeb Dunnuck 97