Wine Advisor
Elio Grasso, Barolo Gavarini Chiniera 2004
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Antonio Galloni
Grasso’s 2004 Barolo Gavarini Vigna Chiniera is a floral, perfumed wine made in a precise style that highlights the mineral-infused red fruits and spice flavors that are typical of this limestone-rich vineyard. It is a generous, dense Barolo in this vintage and offers remarkable harmony, with a pure, focused intensity that carries through to the finish, where finessed tannins round out the satisfying close. Anticipated maturity: 2009-2022. Elio Grasso’s wines are made in a unique, crisply articulated style that highlights balance and harmony over sheer power. “For our 2004 Barolos we did roughly 30 days of maceration in stainless steel, where the wines also completed their malolactic fermentations,” says Gianluca Grasso. “The wines were then racked into 25 hectoliter barrels where they aged for two and a half years. The Runcot saw 35-40 days of maceration and may spend up to 40 months in 100% new French oak.” Various American importers, including: Martin Scott Wines, Little Neck, NY; tel. (516) 327-0808; Langdon Shiverick Imports, Cleveland, OH; tel. (213) 483-5900; Classic Wine Imports, Norwood, MA; Admirality Beverage Co. Columbia Distributing Company, Portland, Oregon; tel. (503) 289-9600
About the Producer
Elio Grasso’s History Born within an old family of Monforte d’Alba with substantial vineyards in the prestigious parts of the town, Grasso may seem destined for a career as a Barolo producer . But instead he chose a different path, at least in the early stages of adult life, choosing to work in the world of finance and living an urban existence that was decidedly different from that of the rural world in which he was born and raised. The wines of Elio Grasso The call of the land, however, eventually proved strong, and the return to Monforte d’Alba was probably only a matter of time. And what he returned to was in fact an impressive patrimony: 18 hectares of vineyards that include first-rate sites such as Chiniera , Casa Matè , and Runcot . Grasso, in fact, just in 1978, decided to ferment and age on his own the grapes of his best plots and was a pioneer in selling both a regular Barolo and also a series of crus . As a producer, Grasso has always been attentive to tradition, but, given the important experiences linked to the numerous generations of his family in the area, he has never wanted to radically transform his wines: both Chiniera and Casa Matè are aged in barrels; only the Runcot , a Riserva , ages in small barrels. Innovation, on the other hand, is represented by two other wines from the line: the excellent Barbera Martina aged in barrels and Educato , a Chardonnay fermented in barrels.
