A decade ago the wines of Brovio were just beginning to gain critical acclaim–not because this is a new estate (it dates back to 1863!), but simply because they had somehow managed to fly under the radar for decades. Today the family is finally getting its due, and the wines are now regarded as some of the finest in Piedmont. Long-time readers will be very familiar with their stellar line-up of Barolo Crus, as they are SommSelect hall-of-famers. Nebbiolo is 100% their bread and butter, but they have two excellent parcels of Dolcetto that are inside the Barolo DOCG. This is always one of the best examples of old-school Dolcetto–floral, pithy, and full of bittersweet cherries–that also displays more silky, modern fruit, and in the 2022 vintage they really hit this wine out of the park. I can’t empathize how delicious this wine is, and how quickly the bottle disappeared!
Over the past two decades, the Brovia family has risen from relative obscurity to currently enjoying a status as one of the undisputed top producers in Barolo. Today, the Brovia estate is run by fourth-generation sisters, Cristina and Elena Brovia, along with Elena’s husband, Alex Sanchez. The family’s pride is a small collection of top vineyard sites in Barolo’s top villages of Serralunga d’Alba and Castiglione Falletto, but every wine they make receives critical acclaim. The estate itself is in Castiglione Falletto, in the heart of the classic Barolo DOCG zone. Though Nebbiolo has long been king here, and continues to be, there are heirloom plantings of other grapes throughout the region. Barbera and Dolcetto are the most prominent “other red grapes”, and Brovia's Dolcetto comes from two parcels, one near their home in Castiglione, and another in Serralunga d’Alba, that are growing on cool sites with typical limestone and clay soils.
All of the Brovia family’s vines are meticulously farmed in accordance with organic methods, and all of the fruit is harvested by hand and gently pressed into stainless steel tanks for fermentation and maceration of about 10 days. For their Dolcetto they age the finished wine in the same steel tanks for 7-9 months before being bottled without filtration. In an average year only about 800 cases are made, and barely a quarter of that makes it to the U.S.!
Serve the 2022 “Vignavillej” (old vines between 30-40 years) a touch cool (55-60 degrees) in Burgundy stems after a quick decant and you’ll get a lovely nose of Amarena cherries, wild raspberries, rosewater, anisette, mint, and orange zest. The palate is quite silky, but with that balancing presence of pithy tannin and bright acidity, plus a layer of deep, mineral flecked savor that adds extra complexity to what is often a fairly straightforward wine. Serve with any simple pasta dish, roast chicken or pork, or of course . . . pizza! This is a special vintage for a special wine, enjoy it!
