I’ll put it as simply as possible: If you collect the top wines of Barolo, Cavallotto is a name you should know. If, somehow, you’re unfamiliar with this impeccable family estate, today’s a great opportunity to add a wine to your cellar that will still be singing 20+ years down the line.
I don’t hesitate to list Cavallotto among the greatest names in Barolo: Conterno, Giacosa, Rinaldi, Mascarello…Cavallotto belongs in this company. Thoughtfully and capably run by fourth-generation vignaiolo Alfio Cavallotto, and drawing fruit for today’s long-aged riserva from the family’s ‘monopole’ vineyard in the village of Castiglione Falletto, Cavallotto is one of the rare examples in Barolo of a producer with a significant ‘library’ of older wines. In my restaurant days, I was thrilled to receive the occasional back-vintage allotment from the estate, each of which provided irrefutable proof of their classical approach and the resultant longevity of their wines. This 2011, which spent more than five years aging in barrel/bottle before release, is actually the ‘current’ incarnation of this wine: It is bursting with aromatic complexity and combines immense power and elegance like few reds in the world can. It promises to be a monumental wine many years down the line: my only regret is having only three bottles per customer to offer today!
The heart and soul of the Cavallotto operation is a vineyard they own outright: “Bricco Boschis” which fans out beneath the winery in a southwest-facing amphitheater. The estate is in the heart of Castiglione Falletto, which itself is right in the heart of the Barolo DOCG—right at a midpoint, of sorts, among the key villages of the zone, where the more clay-rich marls of Barolo and La Morra give way to more sandstone-influenced soils of Serralunga and Monforte. In the end, “Bricco Boschis” has more in common with the cru vineyards of Serralunga and Monforte in terms of aspect (southwest) and soil content—and it shows in this wine. It is brooding, mineral and focused, instantly announcing itself as a long-term wine.
And yet, as is the Cavallotto way, the wine’s power is not expressed through blunt force. It’s about persistence of flavor and aroma delivered via bright acid and firm—not forbidding—tannins. Nebbiolo, as lovers of the variety know, is a “this goes to eleven” kind of grape: high acid, high tannin, high alcohol. The acid is critical in balancing/taming the other two, and in this wine it’s the driving force (as it is in the best red Burgundies). In a way, this wine is kind of stealth in the way it presents itself: it feels lifted, even refreshing, even as it’s unleashing a torrent on your palate.
The 2011 vintage in Piedmont, which started cool and finished hot, has been characterized as an ‘earlier-drinking’ year in comparison to its much-discussed predecessor, but my inclination with this wine is to hold it for a while. Cavallotto’s house style is resolutely ‘traditional’: the wine sees a fairly long maceration on its skins (about a month) during its first fermentation, and is aged 48-60 months in large, used Slavonian oak vats of varying sizes. It wasn’t bottled until 2017, in fact, and then spent another year in bottle before it was released for sale.
And only now, having just arrived in our market, is it beginning to reveal itself. In the glass, it’s a medium ruby leading to garnet and a touch of orange at the rim (it has relatively deep color concentration for a Nebbiolo of this age). The nose is an absolute cacophony of wild strawberry, black plum, morello cherry, pipe tobacco, black tea, clove, licorice, and so much more. On the palate, it vibrates with energy but needs a good hour in a decanter to shed some of its grip and allow the fruit to show through. With a well-marbled steak and lots of time open I’d be happy to drink it now, but the real play is to lay it down and not touch it until after 2020. It is readily evident that this is going to be an epic, long-lived wine. Whenever the occasion arises for you to open a bottle, decant it about an hour before serving at 60-65 in Burgundy stems. If you can wait for truffle season (and afford them when they do show up), a simply prepared pasta with butter and truffles would be fantastic—as would a classic Piedmontese braise, as in the attached recipe. We’ve shared it before, but hey, if it ain’t broke…enjoy!
