Wine Advisor
Azelia, Barolo 2017
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: James Suckling
Fascinating aromas of ripe strawberry, bark, mushroom and black tea follow through to a full body with round, creamy tannins that are juicy and rather punchy. Try after 2024.
Reviewed by: Monica Larner
The Azelia 2017 Barolo is fine and elegant, opening to a pretty ruby color that catches the ambient light. To the nose, it offers cherry and wild rose with licorice and campfire ash. You do notice the extra heft and dryness of the tannins, especially when the wine is tasted before its ideal drinking window. Luigi Scavino's classic Barolo is a blend of seven vineyard sites: Altenasso and Solanotto in Castiglione Falletto; a part of Cerretta; the youngest vines in Bricco Voghera that are 55 to 60 years old (the fruit from the 90-year-old plants goes to the Riserva); and parts of San Rocco, Cerrati and Broglio in Serralunga d'Alba. Production stands at about 28,000 bottles.
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
The 2017 Barolo is a gorgeous entry-level wine. Scorched earth, tar, licorice, black cherry and gravel give the Barolo an unusually dark, brooding profile in 2017. As it often is, the 2017 Azelia Barolo offers tremendous character and nuance in its peer group, or any peer group for that matter. Translucent and so expressive, the 2017 has a lot to offer.
About the Producer
Azelia, located in the Piedmonte wine region of Italy, is a well-known family-run winery in the region. The vineyards of the Aizeli winery cover a total of 16 hectares, mainly in the Castiglione Falletto and Serralunga d'Alba areas. The main grape varieties planted in the vineyards are Nebbiolo, followed by Dolcetto and Barbera. A lot of effort is put into the management of the vineyards at Château d'Ezzeli. In order to reduce the yield of the grapes and increase their ripeness and flavour concentration, the winery conducts at least two green harvests a year. At the height of summer, all the bunches of old vines are rigorously inspected one by one and overgrown branches are pruned off by hand. In addition, the winery is committed to a sustainable approach and refuses to use any chemical fertilisers, while natural fertilisers are only used at 3-4 year intervals. In order to control the vines, weeds are kept in between the rows of vines. In terms of winemaking, Château d'Ezzelie aims to produce quality and balanced wines, using a combination of traditional and modern winemaking techniques and technologies, with strict control over every stage of the production process. The fermentation process is carried out with wild yeasts and the wines are matured in different types of barrels in order to express the character of each wine. After maturation, the wines are not clarified or filtered in any way. At present, Château d'Ezzeli produces eight red wines, including five Barolo wines. The annual production of the wines is 80,000 bottles.
