Barolo, Cerretta, 2016

The Azelias have one big block of 2.5ha here, but only 3500 bottles are produced as the Cru bottling. The wine is aged in one big barrel for 30 months. Most of the rest of the wine is declassified and blended into the Barolo. Originally they rented the plot and they replanted it entirely while under rental agreement. They then bought ten years later. This was thirty years ago. It has been Luigi Scavino’s baby from start to finish. Although vinified separately for a few years now, 2016 is the first time they have not blended all of it into Barolo. The soils are a blend of clay, limestone and chalk. A broad but very clear-cut spectrum of aromas - leather and liquorice, rosehip, salt and stones. The palate offers very refined small berry fruit with complex red cherry stone touches. There is corseted power here. An agile athletic wine with a deft, integrated acidity elongating the finish. Fine and with clear Serralunga character. Lighter than San Rocco and not as austere as Margheria, deft and complex.