Barolo, Prapo, 2015
Silky dark fruit cloaks the palate with ferrous notes of blood and iron, some orange and stones. A fleshy richness covers the tannins. A full bodied style with lots of complexity. Finishes long and sweet. Enrico bought the plot in 2008 and re-worked the soil, planting the vineyard in 2010 with a massale selection from across the estate. So, despite their young age, the vines here are producing fewer bunches and smaller grapes than under the previous ownership. It is an open and windy site, steep and south facing. The soils are red sand and marl giving structure and potential to the wine.
critic reviews
Another new wine in this range, the 2015 Barolo Prapò is superb. Dark and powerful, with tons of Serralunga muscle, the Prapò captures the purest essence of this site in spades. Black cherry, iron, sage, plum, leather, spice and menthol race out of the glass as this virile, explosive Barolo shows off its arrestingly beautiful personality. Vivid and deep in the glass, the 2015 has so much to offer. Even in the early going, it is positively gorgeous.
This is also a new wine, coming from less than a hectare in the Prapo vineyards, from which only five producers draw their fruit. It's a beautiful plot at about 1,000 feet in altitude and with a full southern exposure, producing some very meaty fruit with a high phenolic presence, as the color is darker and there is more perfume. The 2015 Barolo Prapo is a distinctive vintage of a wine that is one to watch, for sure. The vineyard makes the difference, with brown and orange sandy soils, along with marlstone and veins of soils more typical of the area. The Scavino family bought this plot in 2008 and let the land rest for two years before they replanted. The goal, they said, was to steer away from more productive clones in favor of those that wouldn't take away too much from the quality. They took wood from the mothership vineyards in Bricco Ambrogio for this experiment, grafting them onto the rootstocks they carefully selected. The result is a soft and delicate Barolo with a lot of personality to go along with its firmness and power. This is an easy cru to recognize. Enrico Scavino said they could have waited longer for this experimental harvest, but they felt the time was right, explaining that "this work is all about feelings and instincts."