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Cavallotto Barolo Riserva Vignolo 2013  - First Bottle

Reviews

97 Wine Enthusiast -
Underbrush, tilled soil, blue flower, pipe tobacco and wild berry aromas mingle together with leather and menthol. Firmly structured and enveloping, the delicious palate doles out raspberry compote, dried cherry, baking spice and star anise, while tightly woven but fine-grained tannins provide support. It's nicely balanced, with bright acidity. It's already tempting, but hold for even more complexity. Drink 2023–2043.
97 Falstaff -
Rich, flint ruby with a fine garnet rim. Exceedingly fragrant nose of orange peel, cherry blossom and saffron with heavy scents of ripe cherry. Powerful and gripping on the palate, densely packed with sturdy tannins, profound, with emphatically earthy notes of truffle and liquorice. Very long intense finish.
95 Robert Parker's Wine Advocate -
The 2013 Barolo Riserva Vignolo surprises for the sheer darkness and saturation of its color. Upfront and without too much bother, the wine offers immediate richness and concentration with dark berry fruit, plum and dried cherry. There is a lot of intensity here, but the wine is more horizontal and broad in character than it is vertical per se. In other words, it shows a heavy center of gravity, and its very character is focused on richness and power. This wine ages in 20- and 100-hectoliter Slavonian oak botti for up to five years before its commercial release. Production is exactly 6,666 bottles.
94 Vinous -
A big, dense wine the 2013 Barolo Riserva Vignolo is going to need quite a bit of time to be at its best. Today, it is decidedly dark and brooding. Black cherry, smoke, licorice, iron, leather and spice add to that impression. Time in the glass brings out a super-classic profile of rose petal and tar, but the 2013 remians quite imposing. I can’t remember a Vignolo with this much sheer brawn. Readers will have to be patient but there is certainly plenty to look forward to. The 2013 saw 36-38 days on the skins followed by five years in cask, with a preference for larger and more neutral oak that allows for a more gradual pace of aging in the cellar that smaller casks.
94 Wine Spectator -
A core of sweet, ripe fruit is surrounded by tar, eucalyptus, menthol, soy and tobacco flavors. Firm and taut, with latent fruit to balance the structure. The sweet fruit returns on the aftertaste. Needs a few years. Best from 2022 through 2043. 555 cases made, 200 cases imported.

Technical Details

  • BlendNebbiolo
  • WinemakerAlfio, Giuseppe and Laura
  • CountryItaly
  • RegionPiedmont
  • AppellationBarolo
  • VineyardCastiglione Falletto
  • Farming MethodOrganic Practices
  • Aging/Cooperage48-60 months in Slavonian oak botti 20-30-50-80-100 hl then rests in bottle for 12 months
  • Residual Sugar0.6 g/l
  • Alcohol14.5%

Cavallotto Barolo Riserva Vignolo 2013

Nebbiolo  |  Italy
WE97, FS97, WA95, VN94, WS94

Organic Practices
27% off retail!

Double 97s...Cavallotto really outdid themselves in the cool and lengthy 2013 vintage. Deeply structured and brooding in its youth, this Barolo has become utterly fantastic over the last ten years and is ready to wow you with its complexity now!

Hailing from the Vignolo MGA (or cru, as it is widely known), this fruit is grown on steep hillsides of chalk and clay. In most years, this produces a markedly elegant and prettier style of Barolo, but in the long and cool 2013 vintage – another side of this spectacular site was revealed. Upon release, the 2013 Riserva was tightly wound, dark, and saturated, with a core that showed great promise – yet all agreed the wine needed ample time to integrate. Fast forward to today, nearly 10 years later – and this Barolo is SINGING!

Black cherries and plums, rich rose and violet aromas, with classic tar/asphalt aromas...you could teach a class on the aromatics of this Barolo alone! But the mouth is where this wine truly shines – as flavors of sappy, ripe cherries, raspberry compote, white truffles, eucalyptus, fennel, iron ore, and new saddle leather simply explode across the palate with a freshness that belies the age of this remarkable wine. Just now showing in its prime – with a full twenty years of life left to grow!

The parcel for this hillside is only a meager 1.35 hectares in size, with all the nebbiolo destemmed prior to fermentation on indigenous yeasts. The juice macerates on the skins for a full 30-35 days, pulling tremendous color and concentration despite the relatively cool fermentation temperature of 84 degrees Fahrenheit. The wine will then age for up to 60 months in large Slavonian Oak Botti – ranging in size from 20 to 100 hectoliters each.

This is a rare opportunity for delightfully aged, 97 POINT Barolo at a solid $50 below retail...just over 10 cases available so do what you must to claim yours!

About the Producer

In 1928, Giacomo Cavallotto acquired the Bricco Boschis property, and in 1946 his grandchildren – the brothers Olivio and Gildo – began to vinify the estate’s entire grape production for sale as their own bottled and labeled wine. Since the end of the 1980’s, Olivio’s children Alfio, Giuseppe and Laura have continued the work of gradual growth and constant quality improvements begun by their father and uncle.